The Selja Manor and hospital

The Käina Church founded a small man- or-like household for the widows of pastors and other members of the pastors’ families who were elderly and in need of caretaking. The manor was situated in Selja village; so, the local people called it Seljamõisa (Selja Manor) or the Widows House. This spot was marked on maps as early as in the 18th century. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, the house became uninhabit- ed; so, Doctor Arthur Norman, the first physician of Käina, who had started working in Aadma  Manor in 1895, moved there with his family and serv- ants. New doctor’s offices were soon built in the north end of the house. After Doctor Norman left in 1937, Doctor Rimscha and Doctor Kaljas also worked at Selja before World War II. At the end of 1940s, the doctor’s office was converted into a country hospital with 10 beds and a maternity ward. About a dozen years later, Doctor Endel Türi started practicing medicinal mud treatments at the hospital – something that Dr. Norman had pioneered already half a century earlier. Mud therapy was used there up to the year 1962. The Selja Country Hospital was closed on 17th July 1985, because the building of a new modern outpatient clinic was completed in Käina. The Widows’ House was demolished in 1989-1990. The only things reminiscent of its pleasure garden, which was once held in high esteem, are the fields of spring snowflakes and wild tulips in bloom in the springtime.