Brandstorps hembygdsgård

**It sometimes happens that enterprising people more or less characterize a local community. This is also very much the case in the area around Brandstorp, where the von Essen family has left a particularly clear mark.

During the summers of his childhood, Hans von Essen's family lived at Alvasjö a few kilometers west of Brandstorp. His parents wanted to live a rural life that was close to nature and nurturing for their children. Therefore, in 1872, they built the very special wooden tent, which today stands at the homestead.

The wooden tent functioned much like a minimal summer cottage without heating. The building was octagonal and all eight sections had their functions. One section was occupied by the entrance to the tent. In the section to the left was a small washroom and to the right a pantry. The other five sections, or huts, were used as sleeping space for the children. In the middle of the building was a room and in the middle of this is an eight-sided table where people ate. Hans von Essen's brother Edward says that the huts always smelled of damp and mold. The mattresses were filled with ferns.

To reinforce the simple and natural feeling, simple clothes made of burlap were sewn up for the children and they wore special wooden shoes on their feet. The wooden tent was such a remarkable creation that it was even exhibited at the Paris World Fair in 1878. In the 1990s, the wooden tent was donated to the Brandstorp Local History Society, which restored it thoroughly but carefully.

Hans von Essen and his wife Emy Dickson initiated and financed many events in the area. The old people's home from around 1910 northwest of the church was paid for by the family, as was the restoration of the church building in the early 1920s and the creation of a parish hall in the 1950s. The family also owned the farms Skämningsfors and Häldeholm, which they also renovated.

The homestead also includes several other buildings. In one of the buildings there is an exhibition of older objects from the parish. Among other things, a horse-drawn carriage from Tidaholm is on display. Hans von Essen's father Hans Henrik von Essen was full of ideas and thanks to his entrepreneurship, a carpentry factory with large carriage production was established in Tidaholm around 1870. A widely distributed product was the so-called Tidaholmskärran, a two-wheeled carriage designed for a horse. von Essen was also one of the initiators of the successful Vulcan match factory in Tidaholm, although he left the company early. Hans Henrik von Essen can therefore be considered the man behind Tidaholm's expansion from rural to urban areas.

The blacksmith's and other craftsmen's tools are on display in the blacksmith's shop that has been moved here. This was a so-called factor's smithy, which supplied materials to Husqvarna faktori and its weapons production. For example, the Blåberg family of blacksmiths made gun parts here in the forge.

The old elementary school, which is located next to the homestead, had an outbuilding with a brewhouse, sheds, etc.

In the boathouse there is an exhibition about fishing and boat building, which was so important in the area. In the museum building there is an exhibition with stories and photographs from Lake Vättern shipping. The local history society's large collections relating to shipping on Lake Vättern are probably the most extensive and therefore unique.