At first, there was a winter road. It was used to get to the mainland from Hiiumaa crossing Vormsi and Harilaid on the way. This of course created quite a few pubs on the road, where the horses could get a rest and the horsemen grab a bite to eat. One of the first pubs they visited was on Harilaid, with only one household on the whole island. The master of the pub was Hari-Peeter, commonly known as Peeter Kimberg. He was a lighthouse keeper and barkeeper in one. But we’ll get to that at another time.

Because Vormsi is larger than Harilaid, it also had a lot more pubs. In the early days, only the Suuremõisa manor had the right to produce spirits and it had quite an efficient distillery. Because the Suuremõisa landowner was practical person, he chose one farm in each of the larger villages and gave them the right to sell the manor produced spirit. This created 13 different pubs including the manor itself. Most probably some of the pubkeepers had to have other jobs to get by, but the larger and richer pubs in Suuremõisa, Hullo and Söderby villages near the winter road, had quite the life.