Haldi village and harbour

The village received its name from the surname of the first inhabitants of the area – Halte, later spelt as Halt or Haltti.

Whether it comes from Swedish and means a person who limps (halts) or is derived from Haltestelle, once the German name for the stopping and loading place for ships, is not entirely clear until this day. However, it was only at the end of the 19th century when Peeter Koolmeister built his first vessel named Liide here that Haldi became more widely known for its shipbuilding. Later, more than 10 additional wooden ships were built by the Koolmeisters on the same shore.

A harbour, however, was built in Haldi only at the beginning of the 1950s; and for a while, it became one of the major locations in Hiiumaa where Baltic herring was received and processed in springtime. From 1961 to 1992, it was mostly just the renowned coastal fishing team of the collective farm Hiiu Kalur that went to sea from there. During several years that followed, the private limited company Haldi operated at the harbour. It went out of business in 2000, due to generally scanty catches. At the initiative of Aivo Härm, work was started in 2016 to upgrade the harbour. Further operations are run by the non-profit organization Haldi sadam. In 2017, 6.6 tons of fish was unloaded at Haldi Harbour once again. 2.5 tons of it was flounder; and 1.5 tons was gar- fish.

There are 13 farmsteads in the village, but only about 20 people permanently residing in them.