What is a gatehouse? This word came to us from past centuries. Just a room in which the watchman works, rests, and sometimes lives. Usually a small house - wooden or brick.
As soon as they call the gatehouse: a checkpoint, a checkpoint, a guard's booth, a hut, a hut, a guardhouse, a kennel. The names are different, but the essence is the same. And it doesn't matter where this room is located: in production, in the forest, near the railway tracks, in a cemetery or a church courtyard. It's still a gatehouse.
But there is an unusual gatehouse. She saved more than one human life. And in its purpose it differs from others. This is a forest shed. A haven for lost and tired travelers, hunters and foresters.
Zimovya - forest lodges - kushni
From time immemorial, our ancestors built small huts in the impenetrable taiga, huge forests. They built it because they understood: there is no other way to survive in the taiga. And where else to hide in the hot summer, when the midge eats "alive"? Or in severe winter frosts?
What are forest gatehouses? And what are forester's lodges? It's not the same thing. The latter were built not far from the villages on the edge of the forest or on the edge of the village. A forester lived in such a lodge with his family, raised children, kept a household. No one lived permanently in the forest lodges. They only stayed there for a few days - "recover themselves", relax and warm up.
Where did they build winter quarters?
Building in the taiga. A day's march away from each other. So that a person can reach the next forest hut in a day.
They were located on hillocks, uplands. Yes, so that there must be some source of water nearby - a river, a stream, a lake, a key. The road to the gatehouses was necessarily marked with notches on the trees (it is easy to get lost in the taiga).
How was it built?
Forest lodges were cut with axes. The ax crushed the wood, and no antiseptics were needed. Perhaps that is why they are so durable. Many forest huts built more than a century ago still serve today.
The doors in the winter huts were made low so that the cold did not make its way. The windows were made small, with double panes. Sometimes they managed without windows at all.
The roof was insulated with dry moss, and on top with earth or sand. The floors were made of tess.
Who built it?
Men gathered from nearby villages - foresters, hunters, fishermen. Built by the whole world. One couldn't handle it. Everyone knew that one day this gatehouse would help them or their friends. And maybe save someone's life.
Forest lodge furnishings
The situation in the winter hut is very simple. Stove (hearth), wooden bunks, table, bench. Under the ceiling there are poles for drying clothes. Several food shelves. That, perhaps, is all. Only the essentials.
There is always a knife, an ax, matches in the lodge. A couple of bunches of dry wood, firewood, s alt, candles and some food.
Unspoken laws of the taiga
The forest gatehouse is never locked. Every traveler can come in, rest, eat and warm up. But there is a rule, a tradition, if you like - a law. This law is not written anywhere, but everyone is trying to comply with it.
- After resting in the winter hut, be sure to clean up after yourself.
- Chop wood and wood chips for the next traveler.
- Leave in the gatehouse, if possible, at least something (biscuits, matches, candles, a bar of soap, gunpowder and bullets).
- When you leave, close the door behind you. To keep wild animals out.
Hunters and foresters, when they go to the winter hut, be sure to take with them a supply of food, matches, candles from home. If they stop at several lodges, they divide this stock into equal parts.
Observe the rules and laws of our ancestors. Perhaps someone's life depends on how you behave.
If you ever happen to visit the remote taiga, you will know what a gatehouse is.
