Nõva manor
Nõva manor
Nõva School now stands on the site of what was once Nõva manor. While the schoolhouse itself is new, it resembles the old manor house.
Nõva manor, which belonged to Padise monastery in the Middle Ages, was first mentioned in history records in the year 1559. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the manor was known for its frequent changes of ownership. At one time or another, it has been held by families such as von Budenbrock, von Leps, Hetling, Krechter, Mohrenschildt and von Franza for varying periods of time. After the death of Karl Ernst von Franza in 1833, the latter’s four daughters sold Nõva manor to Baroness Charlotte Helene Elisabeth von Ungern-Sternberg and the name von Ungern-Sternberg remained associated with the manor until its expropriation in 1919.
The penultimate owner of the manor was Josephine (Josy) Magdalene von Ungern-Sternberg, who in 1866 married Valerio von Baggehufwudt, the lord of Saku manor who became famous for establishing the Saku beer industry. Josy Baggehufwudt actually spent most of her time in Nõva, living separately from her husband, and the local people have some very colourful stories to share about her memory. After Josy’s death, Nõva manor was passed on to his son Eduard Baggo (Baggehuffwudt), from whom it was expropriated with the land reform of 1919.
The main building of Nõva manor was a long single-storey wooden building with a flat tin roof. Its construction date is not known. It likely assumed its final volume and shape in the 19th century during the classicist or post-classicist period.
After the manor was expropriated, a school moved into the main building of the manor in 1920. The building was extensively rebuilt several times over the following decades to meet the needs of the school. By the beginning of the 2000s, dry rot had damaged the wooden structures to such an extent that the building had to be demolished. In 2002, a new schoolhouse was built on the site of the old one, with more or less the same dimensions and proportions to somewhat resemble the manor house.
Lessons in the manor house started a year after the move, in November 1921. It could have started operating sooner, but there were no teachers.
Just as the building has been rebuilt to accommodate the school, the latter has changed its name several times and the number of pupils has also varied. Nõva now has a six-grade elementary school.
Memorable lady of the manor
Josephine (Josy) Magdalene von Baggehufwudt (née von Ungern-Sternberg), who inherited the manor in 1863 and remained its owner until her death in 1917, was an evocative and very controversial character, whose legacy is recounted to this day.
On the one hand, Josephine was very strict, proud, authoritative and headstrong; on the other, her vocabulary was said to be rich and masculine. She knew her way around both men’s and women’s work. She could paint and sew, but reportedly also mended clocks and horse harnesses and was fond of carpentry and blacksmithing. For example, she donated a piece of wood lace she carved herself for the altar in Nõva church.
She used to have a small summer cottage with a boathouse at the mouth of the Nõva River in Rannaküla. It is said that she liked to check on the doings of the farmers and the manor labourers. This speaks of her competence and her desire to interact with the peasantry. At Christmas, she organised parties for children at the manor.
Josephine used to travel by carriage and car. In the winter, she sometimes went dog sledding in the woods. But one day, the dogs took off after a cat, disobeying her orders. The sleigh went crashing into the stone fence and the rattled manor lady lost her appetite for sledging.
Josephine von Baggehufwudt is buried in Nõva cemetery, and even in this she went against tradition, namely by having her legs facing the cross to the west and her head to the east. She gave instructions to be buried like this so that Nõva manor would be the first thing she sees across the field when rising from the grave. Josephine also cast her own funeral cross before she died.