Nurmes

Nurmes lies at the northern end of Lake Pielinen in the lake country of North Karelia. In 1651 it became a chapel community of the parish of Pielisjärvi, and Count Per Brahe had a church built here with its own chaplain. The parish served villages scattered through the surrounding forests and waters. Church records begin in the late seventeenth century, preserving traces of the families who lived around the northern lake.