Pellas sea captain's farm

Pellas is a large sea captain’s farm in the village of Granboda in Lemland. It was built in 1884, at the height of Åland’s era of farmer shipowners, and today stands as a museum and memorial to that period. The museum tells the story of seafaring and of the Eriksson family, who lived on and farmed the property for many generations.

The photos on this page show the Lemland countryside, not Pellas.

Who were the farmer shipowners of the Åland Islands?

From the second half of the 19th century into the early 20th, Åland farmers owned shares in sailing ships and ran the cargo trade themselves. The museum describes the period as Åland’s golden age, laying the foundation for the islands’ prosperity. In the 19th century Lemland was the largest seafaring municipality in Åland, with several shipyards, according to the municipality’s tourist brochure. Most of the large sea captains’ farms in the villages are still lived in. Pellas is the one open to the public.

Erik Petter Eriksson and the farm

Erik Petter Eriksson was born in 1823 and died in 1908. His father died in 1837, leaving a farm so heavily in debt that it was due to be auctioned, but according to the museum the fifteen-year-old Erik Petter persuaded the creditors to wait. His plan was to build ships and go into the freight trade.

Over the following decades he was managing owner or part-owner of a long list of vessels. The museum’s own list includes:

Ship	Type	Built	Fate
Fredrika	Schooner	1859 in Granboda	Wrecked 1879
Leo	Schooner	1870 in Sideby	Scrapped 1898, wreck in Lumparsund
Ceres	Schooner	1873 in Sideby	Scrapped 1897
Freja	Schooner	1882 to 1883 in Söderby	Lost 1909 off Jurmo
Tähti	Barque	1857 in Vaasa, bought 1890	Lost 1897

Tähti was Erik Petter’s largest ship. The farmhouse, built in 1884, crowned his career. The farm later passed to his son August, who commanded several of the family’s ships before becoming a full-time farmer at Pellas in 1902.

The Herzogin Cecilie and Pamela Eriksson

August’s son Sven Eriksson was born at Pellas in 1903. In 1929 he became the youngest captain in the sailing fleet of the Åland shipowner Gustaf Erikson, and he was in command of the four-masted barque Herzogin Cecilie, the fleet’s flagship, when she ran aground off Devon, England, in 1936. His wife Pamela was on board for the final voyage.

After the wreck the couple lived at Pellas before moving to South Africa after the Second World War. Her book Hertiginnans sista resa, published in 1960, describes life on the farm and at sea. The attic gallery holds a permanent exhibition of her photographs from the Herzogin Cecilie, taken between 1934 and 1936.

Pellas in literature

The museum describes itself as a literary museum as much as a maritime one. The writer Ulla-Lena Lundberg, whose great-grandmother was born at Pellas, published the novel Leo in 1989, about Erik Petter on the farm Simons in Granboda. In real life, Simons is Pellas. According to the museum, it was founded because of the interest the book stirred up, and its first years were in the mid-1990s. Lundberg followed up with Stora världen and, in 2017, Hertiginnan och kaptenskan.

What is there to see at Pellas?

• The main house, with rooms of hand-painted wallpaper recreated after the 2005 fire.
• The attic gallery with Pamela Eriksson’s photographs from the Herzogin Cecilie.
• The barn and shed, with old farm implements and tools, according to Visit Åland.
• A working windmill in the area that can be visited, according to Visit Åland.
• A summer programme that changes every year. In summer 2026, for example, there was theatre in the barn based on texts by the Lemland writer Joel Pettersson.

Pellas is run by a members’ association. Its buildings, including the barn and the bakehouse, can be hired for parties and meetings.

Opening times and prices 2026

These details come from the museum’s website in April 2026:

	2026
Season	16 June to 30 August, Tuesday to Sunday
Entry	€5 adults, under 15s free
Guided tours	€60 plus entry, pre-booked groups only
Café	Same hours as the museum
Phone during opening hours	+358 18 34 420

Daily opening hours are not given on the home page. Check current times at skeppargardenpellas.ax before you visit, especially at the start of a new season.

Bockholmsstrand and the Lemlandsleden trail

About one kilometre from Pellas is Bockholmsstrand, a small nature park on Lumparn created by the association with support from Leader Åland. The walk from the farm along the forest road towards Bockholmsudden takes about ten minutes. The park is open all year but not maintained in winter, and overnight parking and campfires are not allowed.

Pellas also lies on the Lemlandsleden trail, on the stage from Söderby over Bistorpberget and through Granboda towards Lumparsund.

Getting there

The address is Skepparvägen 30, 22610 Lemland. Pellas is easy to combine with Lemland church and Lemböte chapel and the Lemström canal. More places are listed under things to do in Lemland, and travel options in the guide to getting here.