The town in the heart of the mountains, with a new road and modern lighting, where people face packs of wolves VIDEO

Less than 400 people live in the four villages of the Lelese commune in Pădurenilor county: Cerişor, Lelese, Sohodol and Runcu Mare.

SOHODOL PHOTO GALLERY

The smallest of the settlements, Sohodol, has been almost completely depopulated in recent decades, due to its isolation on a ridge in the Poiana Ruscă Mountains and difficult-to-access roads. Only 20 locals still live in Sohodol, but during winter, few of them can be found in their homes.

PHOTO GALLERY WITH PEOPLE FROM THE LANDS FORESTS OF THE PAST

A modern road built in recent months between Lelese and Sohodol, considered one of the most spectacular roads in Forest Land, has lifted the town out of the mountains from prolonged isolation and made locals more optimistic about the future of the settlement. . At the same time, the newly paved streets of the hamlet were lit up with eco-friendly LED fixtures.

Maria Muntean, one of the locals from Sohodol. VIDEO: THE TRUTH. Daniel Guţă

However, the people did not escape the fears with which they became accustomed to living in the mountain village. “One of them is wild animals, especially wolves, which roam the sheep and cattle. I don’t know what I would do if I came across a pack of wolves attracted to my animals. Hunters chase them away, with rifles, but wolves still give us reason to fear. And the bears are here, ”says Maria Muntean (63), a local from Sohodol. Even with the fear of the savages who rule the vast forests at the end of the village, the woman says that she would not leave the place to live in Hunedoara, the nearest town, located more than 30 kilometers away.

Sohodol. Photo: Daniel Guţă.

Holidays in the commune of Lelese. Photo: Romulus Vuia. volume: The popular port of the foresters of the Hunedoara region (1958 / digibuc.ro)

“I lived in the city most of my life, but after retiring I moved here to raise sheep. In summer the place is more lively, while with the arrival of winter people flock to the city. Now the road is fine, so one of our concerns here has been wasted, ”says María.

The town in the 18th century

And two and a half centuries ago, the town of Sohodol was famous for the wild nature of the surrounding forest and for the harsh life of the villagers, whose traditional occupations were animal husbandry and forestry work.

Photo: Romulus Vuia. volume: The popular port of the foresters of the Hunedoara region (1958 / digibuc.ro)

“This town occupies the top of a mountain. Its territory, that before was in the middle of a hideous forest, and now, cleared and cleared by the diligence of its inhabitants, divided into two parts of the border, is so arid and arid that Apart from the spring crops, it does not produce anything else. Therefore, the inhabitants, being completely deprived of the autumn crops, supply their needs from the trade with large and small animals at the Deva and Hunedoara fairs, ” showed in the Transylvanian Tax Conscription of 1750, according to the Lelese Commune Monograph – by Rusalin Işfănoni.

Sohodol. Photo: Daniel Guţă.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Sohodol had almost 300 inhabitants. In the 1950s, more than 200 people still lived in the settlement with almost 100 households. In 1978, almost 50 locals remained, and in 2017 the population of Sohodol numbered fewer than 20 people, most of them elderly. The commune of Lelese, located about 30 kilometers from Hunedoara, is still famous for the traditions of the foresters, preserved for centuries and for the specific folk art of the area.

Old school in Sohodol. Photo: Daniel Guţă.

400 people still live in the four villages of the Lelese commune. Each of them had a school, some almost 100 years old. Lelese’s first teachers came to the mountain villages shortly after the end of World War I, says Mayor Ciprian Achim. They were former soldiers who learned to write during their years at the front and wanted, in turn, to teach children to read and write. At first, many locals refused to let their children go to school because they needed them at home and in other jobs.

“All kinds of ways have been found for children to go to school and help their families while they work. Our best years, in terms of schooling, were 1960-1970, when in each town there was a school and each one of them I had between 30 and 40 children. Now the population has gone to the city or to other countries, “said Mayor Ciprian Achim.

Pădurenilor Land, at the foot of the Poiana Ruscă mountains

Pădurenilor Land, a picturesque region in the west of the country, lies at the foot of the Poiana Ruscă Mountains, in Hunedoara County, with more than 40 villages, established on the slopes and in the valleys of rivers and streams that descend into the valley from Mureş, almost all surrounded by vast forests. Many of the forest villages are attested from the Middle Ages, when they were part of the dominions of Hunedoara and Deva. Beginning in the mid-20th century, almost all settlements in the Forest Land began to depopulate, with some of them eventually disappearing completely, abandoned by their last inhabitants and devoured by forests.

Forest land illustration. Photo: Romulus Vuia. volume: The popular port of the foresters of the Hunedoara region (1958 / digibuc.ro)

In the early 1950s, before more and more people were drawn to the industrial centers of Hunedoara, leaving their homes in the care of their grandparents, almost 20,000 people lived in the villages of Forest Land, four times more than in the actuality. . The mountain settlements were full of life, and the locals took care of forestry, bocşit (burning coal for the factories of Huendoara and Govăjdia), agriculture, mining and cattle ranching. Carpentry and weaving were occupations handed down from generation to generation, and foresters proudly wore richly decorated folk costumes. Mining operations that provided the highest paying jobs closed down and contributed to the departure of hundreds of other families, and investments to modernize the area’s vast network of dirt roads began with difficulty.

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