Among other endeavours, Palmse Manor engaged in tar burning. The manor allocated a plot on what is now known as Aia street (‘garden’ in Estonian) to tar burner Jakob Muik as a residential premises. Tar constitutes the best-known and most popular means of treating wood and burning tar is an old skill. There have been three methods of burning tar: in tar pits which are also known as tar graves; in a cauldron tilted sideways; and in special tar furnaces. The simplest method was to burn tar in tar graves. To that end, a hole was dug in a hillside or riverbank and the cavity that was formed was filled with resin-covered pine tree root parts which were then set ablaze. Tar would be issued by way of a spout in the bottom of the hole. Large tar furnaces were built of stone and with double walls; in order to obtain pine tree tar, the inside of the furnace was filled with pieces of pine tree root, while the outer part of the contraption held firewood. The furnace was lit for a number of days on end until tar would run into the collection container through the attached spout. Pine tree tar was required in constructing buildings, boats, barges, and ships, but also in impregnating tools and utility articles. Birch tar was used to impregnate leather footwear, horse harnesses, and rain wear, and this type of tar also came in handy in folk medicine. The remnants of a tar-burning furnace stand in Võsu to this day on a hill named Tar Hill (‘Tõrvamägi’ in Estonian) in a forest across the river from Saw Mill Farm. Jakob Muik’s tiny cabin has also been preserved. When he left this world, Muik willed the cabin to Johannes Broberg who used the plot to cultivate fruit and vegetables for sale. Holidaymakers were especially keen on his cucumbers, on account of which the place came to be called Kurka (‘kurk’ is Estonian for ‘cucumber’).