Żnin County, Poland: Traveling in the Footsteps of my Ancestors

 Żnin County, Poland: Traveling in the Footsteps of my Ancestors

Is a genealogy-based tour worth your while if you are many generations removed from your immigrant ancestors? What can you learn about their lives just by visiting the towns and villages where they once lived when so many years, and world events, stand between you today and their lives long ago?

This past September, I had the opportunity to answer those questions with a walk in the footsteps of my ancestors on a trip to Poland. I’ve been to Poland before, but both trips were before I had the luxury of time on my hands to pursue my interest in genealogy. In 2002, I traveled with my mom and sister. Mom only knew that her grandmother's family was from ‘Posen’, so off we went to visit Warsaw, Krakow, and Poznań, the city, on a bus tour. We had a wonderful trip, and enjoyed just being in Poland, even if we weren’t quite sure where our ancestors were from.  In 2014, I returned to Poland again, this time with my husband and 3 children.  Summer trips that combined fun, sites, and a little bit of family history were our thing when our children were teens. By this date, I had a better idea of where our Polish ancestors were from, but trip planning focused on the kids, and wandering small towns and cemeteries was not on the agenda. Instead, we stayed in scenic southern Poland, visiting sites from our base in Kraków including Zakopane, Wieliczka Salt mines and Auschwitz.

As the years clicked by, my genealogy skills grew and I was finally able to piece together the outlines of our Polish heritage. I learned the history, studied “the partitions”, taught myself enough Polish, German, Latin and Russian to decipher the records (at least the important stuff), and rebuilt the journeys that brought my ancestors from their towns and villages in Europe to Pennsylvania and Michigan in the United States. Along the way, I was privileged to become a part of the Polish genealogy community, and received help from countless individuals who walked this path before me. In turn, I am now able to extend a helping hand to others on occasion.  The Polish genealogy community is by far the friendliest and most helpful I’ve come across - so many people who are so giving of their time and expertise. Finally, the time was right for a return trip to Poland, this time with my extensive family tree in hand. 

I originally wanted to visit both central Poland, where ¾ of my Polish ancestry originates, and the far northeast corner of Poland by Lithuania where the final ¼ comes from. Time restraints meant I chose to focus on just central Poland on this trip, and mainly on the Żnin region, which means a return trip will be needed in the future (yay!). This time, it was just me and my husband. Hubby enjoys some family history, but is far from a genealogy fanatic, so we sandwiched the ‘small towns and cemeteries’ portion or our trip between time in Warsaw (new to him) and Gdańsk (new to both of us). We did the cities on our own, and worked with a genealogy tour company, PolishOrigins, to plan a guided visit to the small towns of my ancestors in the middle 4 days of our trip. 

Kasia Tonia with PolishOrigins was my point of contact for planning. She was easy to work with and very knowledgeable, and always quick to respond to my questions. She worked from my list of ‘must sees’ to craft a doable itinerary that left room for deviations and explorations beyond the planned. She also planned transportation and hotels for us and our guide. As luck would have it, our guide was Zenon Znamirowski, or Zen, the founder of PolishOrigins. Zen has years of experience leading genealogy trips to all areas of Poland. He also made for a pleasant - and knowledgeable - traveling companion.

My immigrant ancestors from this part of Poland are Kazimierz Gościński (1856-1933), born in Oćwieka, and his wife Antonina Nowak (1865-1941), born a few miles away in Sczepanowo. Kazimierz and Antonina immigrated separately to Bay City, Michigan in 1882. I have no idea if they knew each other prior to immigration, but they met and married and raised a large family in Bay City during the tumultuous years of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While they are my great-great-grandparents, they always felt closer, because my much-loved grandmother grew up in their home and shared stories about each of her Gościński Aunts and Uncles at every family gathering and holiday meal. Only one of their daughters, Władysława or Lottie, lived long enough to cross my path in life, briefly. At Christmas time, we still bring out Great-Aunt Lottie’s china to set the table, and remember. 

Unfortunately, while the china was passed down, solid information about Kazimierz and Antonina’s life before Michigan wasn't. Like many others, I only had sketchy stories and vague place names to start with. The story went that Kazimierz had 11 siblings who all died in a fire except for one sister, “Chudka”. He was from Poznan, or Gniezno… or from Lwow (?). Antonia, as my family called her, was sent to bring back her brother who had run away to America, and stowed away on a ship. All not quite correct, but there is a hint of truth there. Genealogical sleuthing has provided some answers - Kazimierz was indeed one of 12 children, and most did die, but of typical childhood illnesses of the time. His sister, Agnieszka, survived childhood, and eventually reunited with Kazimierz in Michigan as an old woman, where the Gościński children called her Aunt or “ciotka”. Antonia did have a brother, Antoni Nowak, who immigrated to America the year before her, but he was married and had a child so it is unlikely he was a runaway. I also found Antonia on a passenger list so she had a ticket for her voyage, but she was very young (16 years old), and traveling without other family. And Gniezno, it turns out, was close. 

The Goscinski family of Bay City, Michigan, 1892

I've been able to build out Kazimierz and Antonia’s family trees, filling in names, dates and correct place names back another generation or two. Kazimierz’s family was particularly difficult, because his father was an estate manager who moved his family from estate to estate across a wide area, with children born or dying in each place. I wasn’t able to find the last of his siblings until FamilySearch digitized more (most?) records from Posen. Fortunately, the name combination of his parents - Tomasz Gościński and Katarzyna Buzała - was rare and stood out in record searches. Where the Goscinski’s lived prior to 1800 remains a mystery - perhaps Lwow will still turn out to be more truth than rumor. Antonia’s parents, Wojciech Nowak and Jadwiga Górna, were also on the move across the region, both before her birth and after, from their marriage in Tuczno (Złotniki Kujawskie) to  Lisewo Koscielne, to Szcepanowo, and on to Biskupin and Wenecja. Between the two  families, I searched for and found close family records in perhaps 20 different Roman Catholic parishes and 8 different standesamts (for later civil records). I had facts; now I wanted to get to know my ancestors better as people, and perhaps understand their lives just a bit more. Was it even possible?

On day 1, Zen met us at our hotel in Warsaw in the morning. He drove us the 3 hours from Warsaw to the Gniezno Lake District, about 35 miles northeast of Poznań -  this stretch of land between Gniezno and Inowroclaw,  full of gently arched hills, narrow glacial lakes, and unexpected clusters of dense forest, is the homeland of many of my Polish ancestors. Gniezno is considered by many to be the heart of historic Poland, and was the original capital way back in 966 CE at the start of the Piast dynasty. Gniezno is also the most important town of the Piast trail, the oldest tourist and historical trail in Poland. Many of the towns on the trail are associated with my ancestors in one way or another, including Żnin, Biskupin and Inowrocław. While I can’t know if my long-ago ancestors were present when Bolesław I was crowned the first King of Poland in the Gniezno Cathedral in 1025, it still felt electric for a moment to imagine that they could have been. We would stay at Dom Pielgrzyma Adalbertus, across from the Cathedral, for the next two nights.

From Gniezno, we continued on to Żnin to visit a local museum, Muzeum Ziemi Pałuckiej, or Museum of Pałucki Land. What’s a Pałucki? Why, I am, apparently, or at least my ancestors were. Pałuki is a historic and ethnographic region in central Poland, with its own unique dress, music, dance, and folklore, situated on the border of Greater Poland and Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeships. The museum seeks to preserve that unique history. Zen had called ahead and learned that one of the museum curators was knowledgeable about the large landowners of the area, a topic of interest to me since my ancestors were estate managers or estate workers in other capacities. One of my goals was to learn who they worked for, and what life on an estate in Prussian Poland in the 19th century was like. We enjoyed a private tour of the small museum and the exhibits, which included displays of the local “stroje ludowe”, or folk costumes. Now I can picture what my ancestors might have worn on special occasions!

Leaving Żnin, we headed a few miles south to Gąsawa on the scenic small roads, perched on high(er)-ground above the lakes, and surrounded by fields where sugarbeets lay mounded in towering piles following the recent harvest. Gąsawa is the baptismal location of my ancestor, Kazimierz Gósciński, born in 1856 in the nearby small hamlet of Oćwieka. We wanted to visit the 17th century wood church of St. Nicholas, well-known for its elaborate Baroque wall murals, but found it closed. Fortunately, we planned to be in the area for multiple days and could return at a later time. On the way, we passed the monument to Leszek Biały, or Leszek I the White, High Duke of Poland, who was assassinated near here in 1227 CE during power struggles within the Piast dynasty. 

With a documented history stretching back to 1136 CE, the small town of Gąsawa has seen a lot of history, both ancient and more recent - Polish insurgents of the Greater Poland uprising (1918–1919) fought town to town throughout this area to push out the Germans following WWI, and help secure the inclusion of the region into the newly re-established Polish State. Two of the insurgents, Michał Superczyński, born in Oćwieka (1892-1919), and Stefan Grajek of Łysinin (1898-1919) are buried in the local cemetery. I thought about how Kazimier Gościński’s two eldest sons, Florian and Joseph, both born in Bay City, Michigan, were of a similar age. Had Kazimier and Antonina stayed in the area their boys would perhaps have fought alongside their kinsmen in the uprising. Though they lived across the Atlantic, the Polish people were never far from Kazimier and Antonina’s hearts, and both of their boys proudly served in WWI, Florian returning home to Michigan profoundly shell-shocked.

While daylight held, we continued our slow exploration of the small towns in the area. Many of the smaller villages had older homes that looked unlived in or at least unloved. But here and there, new clusters of homes with well tended gardens dotted the landscape. Life continues here. We meandered through Mokre, the town where Kazimierz’s father Tomasz  was born in 1813, and Parlin where his baptism took place. Komratowo, where his mother was born in 1812, and Chomiąża Szlachecka, where the eldest of Kazimier’s siblings were born. We made a few quick stops, but mostly just took in the atmosphere - the blueness of the deep lakes, the gently waving grasses in the fallow fields, the denseness of the stands of forest, and the beauty of the cranes taking flight, sounding their honking call as they soared away. Lovely, more lovely in person than I thought it would be from still pictures on the internet that fail to do it justice. 

On day 2, we woke to the ancient sound of the Gniezno Cathedral bells through our open windows. Our first stop of the day was the Wielkopolska Ethnographic Park in Dziekanowice on lake Lednica, where we visited a recreated 18th-19th century village. Zen had arranged for a local guide, Mateusz, to join us for the morning. Mateusz led us through the outdoor exhibits, wooden homes and barns, all carefully moved to this location from the Wielkipolska area, while expounding on life in this region in past centuries and the significance of the buildings and furnishings we were looking at. The exhibit includes a manor house and outbuildings that might be similar to places where my own ancestors lived and worked. Three wooden windmills grace a small hill overlooking the lake, where we paused to learn about the history of the ‘Olenders’ or Olędrzy, mostly Dutch farmers who were invited to settle in Poland starting in the 16th century, mainly in swampy areas along rivers like the Vistula where they used their skill to improve the land for farming.

Then, we stepped further back in time, with a quick stop on the shores of Lake Lednica to learn about Ostrów Lednicki, a fortified island settlement (gród) that served as one of the main political and religious centers for the early Piast dynasty during the 10th and 11th centuries. It is highly important in Polish history, primarily because it is a leading contender for the location of the Baptism of Prince Mieszko I in 966 CE. The island once was connected to the mainland by two long wooden bridges, but today visitors must wait for a ferry to take them across. Since we were short on time, we moved on to our next stop, Biskupin.

Biskupin is both the village near Żnin where my ancestor, Antonina Nowak lived with her family just prior to departing for America, per her passenger list, and a nearby archaeological site with a life-size model of a late Bronze Age fortified settlement of the Lusatian culture and an archaeological open-air museum. And we just happened to have arrived during the annual Biskupin Archaeological Festival held every September. What a treat! The parking lot was packed full of buses and cars, and hordes of Polish school children. But the park is spread out and we never felt crowded. Due to the festival, reenactors in faithful period dress filled every park area, showing off period skills like early metal working, traditional dyeing and textiles, and traditional combat. We even saw a line of children patiently waiting to take their turn hoeing the fields by hand with traditional tools. Other exhibits included an early-medieval village and a Pałucki cottage, typical in the area during the 18th and 19th century when my ancestors lived near here.

The recreated Medieval Village at Biskupin

While the remains of the fort were not discovered until 1933, long after Antonia had left and her parents had died, the park still gave me an appreciation for the depth of history in this area. Successive groups of humans have inhabited this very spot for 10,000 years, since the glaciers receded after the last ice age. According to our guide Mateusz, the Lusatian people who inhabited Biskupin in about 700 - 500 BCE were not Slavic. The Slavic peoples only arrived in this region nearly a millennium later, around the 5th or 6th century CE. But some DNA studies suggest that links still exist to the earlier culture, through the Mothers of Poland and their Mitochondrial DNA or MtDNA. My own direct maternal line leads straight to Poland, through Antonina Nowak and this very patch of Earth. 

Following a late lunch of homemade Żurek (a traditional Polish sour rye soup) at the Gąsawa booth at the park (apparently, local civic groups volunteer to run the food concessions at the festival), we headed out to see more sites associated with my family. First up, a return to Chomiąża Szlachecka. Zen had done some research and discovered that the fancy Hotel & Spa tucked next to the lake was once the estate of the Sulerzyski family, minor Polish nobility.  It is this family that my own ancestors worked for when they lived on the estate in the 1830’s. Various other close family members, including Antonina’s sister, Magdalena Nowak, lived here as well. Magdalena and her husband, Stefan Korona, a stone mason on the estate, lived here as late as 1904. The white brick church dedicated to St. John the Baptist overlooking Lake Chomiąskie was built by Józef Sulerzyski in 1831, just 3 years before Kazimier's parents moved into the village owned by the estate. It is here that at least 4 of his siblings were baptized.

Chomiąża Szlachecka, now the Herbarium Hotel

On a purely personal note, I know where I’m staying on my next visit to the area. The Herbarium Hotel & Spa is absolutely lovely. The current owners did a fantastic job of restoring the original manor house and repurposing it into a modern, very posh, hotel. And did I mention the Llamas? Sure, it’s expensive, but it would be in honor of my ancestors, and I can rest in luxury dreaming that we were the estate owners, not just the estate managers.

Back on the road again, we made our way to Szczepanowo, a village a few miles to the east where Antonina Nowak was born and baptized in 1865. Her parents, Wojciech Nowak and Jadwiga Górna, moved here from Rucewko (Lisewo Kościelne) in about 1845 and stayed for 25 years. Wojciech Nowak is described in records as ‘agricola’, so the Nowaks were perhaps a bit better off than some of their neighbors and owned their own land. The village still feels agricultural, surrounded by endless fields.When the Nowaks lived here, Szczepanowo, and the neighboring Szczepanowo Colony had a population of 702 inhabitants, both Polish and German, and a Parish school that Antonina and her siblings may have attended. We stopped by Saint Bartholomew church in Szczepanowo, a red brick building with a decorative steeple built in 1848 while Antonina’s family called the village home. The church was extensively restored after WWII, but the baptismal font and altar are unchanged from when Antonina walked across these same floors. 

Baptismal Font, Kościół św. Mikołaja

We ended our day by returning to Gąsawa to see the church there. A mass was scheduled for 6pm so we knew the building would be open. Gąsawans (is that a word?) are very proud of their town and their history. They have an active community group and a Facebook group dedicated to the shared history of the town. We even saw a man wearing a sweatshirt with the slogan (in Polish), “Being from Poland makes me proud, but being from Gąsawa is an honor”. The church of St. Nicholas (Kościół św. Mikołaja) is definitely something they should be proud of. The handsome but plain exterior hides an elaborately decorated interior that feels like stepping into a jewelry box. Every surface is painted with murals.These are the largest collection of baroque wall paintings to survive in a wooden Polish church.  They survived because the town was too poor to restore the deteriorating murals, and in the 1850’s, right about when Kazimierz Gósciński was brought here as an infant to be baptized, they covered the walls with reeds and plaster, and then forgot about them for the next 150 years. 

Day 3 began with one last chance to travel through the small villages of my ancestors. We were ultimately headed to Toruń, the city of Copernicus and Gingerbread, but we had all day to get there. Our first stop was Tuczno, in Złotniki Kujawskie Commune. Tuczno is home to some of my earliest documented ancestors - both Wojciech Nowak and his wife Jadwiga Górna were born here, as were their parents, most likely. I told Zen this place is where my DNA most resonates - give me an unknown DNA relative on my maternal Polish line, and odds are, they’ll lead me back to Tuczno, where I am connected by an unbroken line of women, my mother’s mother’s mother, and so on. But maybe that reflects more on who left Poland, than who lived here in the first place. 

Reading the Tuczno Information Board with Zen

Tuczno’s surviving records stretch back to 1768, but my ancestors were likely here long before records began to be kept. An informational board across from the parish Church proudly declares that  the history of Tuczno dates back to the times of Biskupin, and perhaps even earlier. Whether that's the case or not, it was certainly a Royal Estate since the time of Duke Władysław-Opolczyk who in 1390 donated it, together with the lands of Inowrocław and Bydgoszcz, to his daughter Jadwiga, who was married to a Lithuanian Prince. That means my ancestors were likely serfs here, tied to this land and estate, until Prussian land reform in the early 19th century after the 1st partition of Poland. The owners of the land in more recent times were the Czykowski and Wichliński families. They built the current (impressive) church building here in 1890, long after my direct ancestors left the area. Today, Tuczno no longer exists as an independent town. Its largest employer, a sugar factory, closed in 2003.

From my earliest known ancestors to my latest known relatives. We headed next to Inowrocław, the last known address of Antonina’s sister and niece after the end of World War II. My grandmother told me that by the time our family in Poland reached out after world war II, many years had passed and her own grandparents, Kazimierz and Antonina Gościński were long dead. Still, my grandmother sent care packages to an address here in Inowrocław which were picked up, but no further letters arrived. Inowrocław is a fairly small city, with a current population of about 70,000 residents. It rose in importance in the 19th century as a railway interchange and industrial hub, with factory jobs drawing in people from the surrounding area. We stopped by the last known address of our cousin, Antonina Korona, and her daughter Halina, on Grabskiego Street. We found the apartment building still standing, and Zen spoke to current residents who unfortunately could not recall a Korona family. Too much time had passed.

The grave of Antonina and Halina Korona, Inowroclaw

Next, we visited their graves in the parish cemetery on Karola Marcinkowskiego Street. Until this point, there had been very little cemetery walking on this genealogy trip. This is because my Polish ancestors immigrated fairly early, in the 1880’s. With traditional European cemetery customs, few graves for my ancestors are likely to still exist. The graves of Antonina Korona (1896-1974) and her daughter Halina Korona (1930-2007) were the only graves I could definitively tie to my immediate family while researching before this trip. We met with the Cemetery manager, and Zen was able to get a bit more information for us, including Halina Korona’s last address before her death in 2007, and that she was in a care home before her death. Unfortunately, none of the additional clues were helpful in tracking down any surviving family. I felt OK with this - I knew going into this trip that the chance of finding relatives in Poland, my 3rd+ cousins at this point, was slim. I wish we had actually spent a bit more time seeing Inowrocław itself, rather than spending our time in offices, to better picture the lives they lived here.

We ended the day in Toruń, just across the Vistula (Wisła) river, but still historically within the Prussian/German partition of Poland before WWI. I had put Toruń on my itinerary when I spoke to Kasia with PolishOrigins, not because it specifically relates to my family history, but because I wanted to visit it - and I am so glad we did. This side of the Wisła, which I associate more with my grandmother’s paternal Polish family, the Cichocki’s, was still in today’s Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, but was historically in West Prussia, not Posen, during the 1 st partition of Poland when my ancestors lived 30 miles north of here. While time restraints did not allow us to explore the smaller villages associated with this other side of my heritage, I could at least say that I had visited the greater area they were from. After dinner and gingerbread, we wandered the quiet streets and enjoyed the view of the illuminated medieval city walls from the banks of the Wisła. Again, lovely.

Day 4, our final morning with Zen and PolishOrigins, we met with a local guide, Katarzyna, for a private walking tour of the city of Toruń. After checking the weather forecast that morning which called for less than a 10% chance of rain, we opted to leave our raincoats and umbrellas in the room. Lesson learned about the unpredictable Polish weather - when the raindrops started, both Zen and Katarzyna popped out their umbrellas. My husband and I got just a bit wet while learning about this well-preserved Medieval city ( it was not bombed during WWII, unlike Warsaw) and its best known son, Copernicus. The city is compact, and easy to navigate on foot, and the history is fascinating. We especially enjoyed seeing the Gdanisko or ‘loo’, the only part of the Teutonic castle left standing following a town rebellion in 1454 - we would learn more about the history of the Teutonic Knights in Poland later in our trip when we visited Malbork Castle. The toilet tower is strategically built over a stream that flows into the nearby Wisła river. I was assured it is no longer used.

With the tour complete, it was time to say goodbye to Zen. He dropped us off at the Toruń train station where we caught a train to Gdansk for the final part of our trip to Poland. As a side note, we found the train system to be easy to navigate and very comfortable. I left the lands of my ancestors feeling I knew them just a bit more. There is something about being there, where they were, that strikes a chord deep in my chest - an invisible connection across time to the ones who made me, and the life I am living today, possible. I’m sure I’ll return to Poland again in the future to continue exploring the towns and villages of my ancestors.

My traditional genealogy goals for this trip were modest - my tree is already well-documented and extensive, and I’ve probably exhausted most easy avenues of research. I already knew my 19th century Polish family was mobile, without deep roots in any particular town, so it makes sense that most descendants, like my own great-great-grandparents, continued to move on, seeking out greener pastures. I never expected to find long-lost family in Poland. I am a bit disappointed we did not visit the Archives in Gniezo where I had hoped to do some research in parish records that are not online and accessible from the United States, but I learned from Zen that even there, I’d only be able to look at records on a computer screen. Given my time constraints, our choice to go to the Museum in Żnin instead was the right one. I'll keep working to fill in the various missing dates and places in my tree as new records are made available online or indexed, or plan a trip to Salt Lake City.

But I also set out to get to know my ancestors just a bit more, and to learn about what their lives were like before they left, forever, for a new life in America. Here, I feel the trip met every expectation and was very successful. The time spent wandering the towns and back roads, seeing the lakes they fished in, the trees they climbed, and the fields they tilled was priceless. The visits to local museums and ethno-graphic parks, and the local guides arranged by PolishOrigins, were educational and informative. Each helped add to the picture in my head of who my ancestors were. 

I am especially grateful that Zen insisted we return to Chomiąża Szlachecka to visit the estate turned hotel where the Gościński’s once lived and worked - I learned about the importance of the estate managers role, and now picture my ancestors going about their work days in amongst the manicured gardens and well-tended paths, in the shadows of the stately manor buildings. It confirms the stories from my grandmother, who always insisted that her own grandparents were well-educated and relatively well-to-do before they even came to America. But holding on to that burgeoning middle-class status was elusive in 20th century Europe as the world changed around them. We also climbed the well-worn stairs of the dreary apartments in Inowrocław where my grandmother’s cousin's family, who stayed through the war years, lived. Life got worse here before it got better. I can’t really know my long-gone ancestors of course, but I do think I know their lives just a little bit better.

My thanks to Kasia & Zen at PolishOrigins for their expertise and knowledge in making this trip happen. It was worth it! 

Stefanie Matta

13 Oct 2025

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HERBARIUM HOTEL & SPA: HISTORY OF THE HOTEL

The following is the text of the handout the Herbarium Hotel & Spa provided us. I’ve translated the text from Polish to English using online translation tools:

HOTEL WITH HISTORY

The history of the estate in Chomiąża Szlachecka dates back to the 13th century. It belonged to the famous Nałęcz family. In the 14th century, the renowned Mikołaj Nałęcz, a Kalisz judge known as the Bloody Venetian Devil, was born here. Legend has it that young Mikołaj, a gentle yet hot-tempered man, avoided politics and did not involve himself in the conflict between the Nałęcz and Grzymalit families. The situation changed in 1383 when the Grzymalit family raided and completely burned down the wooden manor in Chomiąża. During the attack, Mikołaj's young beloved, Hanka, was killed. Mikołaj changed beyond recognition and vowed revenge. From that time on, he became known as the extremely ruthless and dangerous Bloody Devil. After the death of Mikołaj Nałęcz, Chomiąża passed into the hands of the Pomian family. Between 1523 and 1577, a tithe of sheaves from the fields of the Chomiąża land was allocated for the local parish priest and the Gniezno scholastics.

Since the beginning of the 19th century, Chomiąża belonged to the Sulerzyski family. They rebuilt the classical manor, designed an extensive landscape park, and founded a beautiful neo-Gothic church on the hill, which borders the current property. From the 1880s, the manor changed owners several times until in 1934 it was reclaimed by Helena Mirowska of the Sulerzyski family - unfortunately, not for long. In 1946, the Chomiąża estate was handed over to the State Agricultural Farm in Obudno. For some time, the manor served as a summer camp center for children. After the land was taken over by the State Treasury Property Agency and the estate was sold to a private investor, the manor was in a state of ruin.

HOTEL IN A HISTORIC MANOR 

Herbarium Hotel & SPA is located in the picturesque village of Chomiąża Szlachecka, not far from Bydgoszcz. The manor and park complex consists of the historic Old Manor, the stylish New Manor, and the rustic Outbuilding. All buildings are connected by a convenient underground passage. The harmonious blend of the history of the historic manor with modern design and comfort is the hallmark of the property. The Old Manor dates back to the 19th century and is under permanent conservation care. In the modernly furnished interiors, historic elements have been preserved – brick walls and beautiful vaulted ceilings. This building houses the hotel’s Werbena Restaurant, which serves aromatic European cuisine based on fresh, regional products. Right next to it are the stylish lobby bar and the charming fireplace room with a large terrace and a beautiful view of the lake.

HOTEL BY THE LAKE 

The hotel is located within a 6-hectare 19th-century park, on the shores of the pristine Chomiąskie Lake. Right next to it runs the historic Piast Route, and less than 9 km away lies Poland's oldest settlement - Biskupin, which is one of the most interesting archaeological sites in Europe. The hotel's main theme is herbs, whose subtle aroma wafts through the garden and park, allowing guests to relax and escape reality. Numerous romantic corners, charming alleys winding through the old trees, and picturesque ponds enable our guests to lose themselves in the greenery and truly unwind.

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS 

The secluded Chomiąża Szlachecka is located between Bydgoszcz and Poznań in the heart of the Pałuki region, known for its picturesque ribbon lakes and forests. The area is also a cradle of our civilization: just 9 km from our Hotel is the oldest and most interesting archaeological site in this part of Europe – Biskupin. Here, you can admire the ancient settlement inhabited by the Lusatian people as early as 740 BCE. Every year, an archaeological festival takes place in Biskupin, attracting tourists from all over Poland. The museum is open throughout the year, and during the winter months, it can be visited until dusk. 

Gniezno is a city inseparably linked to the history of our country. It is worth visiting Poland’s first capital at least for its impressive cathedral and the famous Gniezno Doors from 1175, the narrow-gauge railway, or the Museum of the Origins of the Polish State. 

Ruins of the Devil of Wenecja Castle – the castle was built in Wenecja in the mid-14th century on the order of Mikołaj Nałęcz of Chomiąża. According to legend, Mikołaj Nałęcz, a judge from Kalisz, acquired the nickname the Bloody Devil of Wenecja after the death of his beloved, who most likely died during the raid by the Grzymalit family on the Nałęcz family estates in Chomiąża. The castle was built on a square plan on the narrow land between Lake Wenecja and Lake Biskupińskie and was intended to guard the route connecting Żnin with Gniezno.

Tuczno, Poland - Village Information Board

The information board is located across Pakoska street from the Church in Tuczno. It's been there a while and has a bit of damage so I might have missed a few words in this auto-translation. On the right side of the board, the local legend of the Dragon of Tuczno is retold. I’ve translated the words and crafted an English-language version with a bit of AI assistance for fun.

The history of Tuczno dates back to the times of Biskupin, and perhaps even earlier. Documented information dates back to the end of the thirteenth century. The name of the village changed: Tuzna-1298, Thurzna-1303, Thuchno-1305, Tucznow-1390, Tchuczno-1505. In 1390 it was known as the center of the Tuchin land (Tuchoviensis). Władysław-Opolczyk donated it, together with the lands of Inowrocław and Bydgoszcz, to his daughter Jadwiga, who was married to the Lithuanian prince Wigunt. In 1409, King Władysław Jagiełło was stationed there, who went to the rescue of Bydgoszcz occupied by the Teutonic Knights. Tuczno, as a royal domain, was included in the Inowrocław starosty. In the fourteenth century, Mrs. Trzebuchowska received it for life from Sigismund Augustus. Later, in the sixteenth century, the owner of the royal estates was F. Proński. Then it was ruled by Ignacy Trzciński, the cupbearer of Inowrocław. 

After the Second Partition of Polish, in 1793, the Prussian king gave Tuczno to General Brauschuetz. Over the years, they were owned by various owners, m.in. St. Czaykowski, a confederate of Barski, his son Antoni, who was a participant in the Kościuszko Uprising. This family should be written about separately. Due to the lack of a male descendant, Tuczno was inherited by Leon's daughter, Tekla Czaykowska. After getting married to J. Wichliński in Tuczno, the history of another very patriotic Polish family was continued. The Wichliński family took part in the Greater Poland Uprising with their whole family. Their ancestors participated in many battles for Poland and national patriotic uprisings. Justyna Wichlińska founded a branch of the Red Cross in Inowrocław. J. Wichliński's twin brother was the owner of the Helenowo estate. From 1939 onwards, the surviving descendants of the Wichliński family were not allowed to return to Tuczno. Huge collections of historic trinkets, souvenirs of the patriotism of generations, were meticulously destroyed by the occupier and the authorities in the 1940s. The history of the Tuczyn land is witnessed since the thirteenth-century by the church of Sts. Peter and Paul, which has its beautiful history and historic works of sacred art. Books also contain native legends:

The Dragon Guards the Treasure

Long ago, in the village of Tuczno near Inowrocław, there dwelt a man who was scorned by all his neighbors. And small wonder, for his nature was evil: jealous, selfish, greedy—in truth, a loathsome creature.

It befell one day that, whilst he wandered through the fields near Lake Tuczyńskie, he stumbled and fell to the ground. Straightway, darkness closed about him. Yet when his eyes grew used to the gloom, he beheld a passage leading deep into the earth. He made his way within, turning here and there, until he came upon a mighty boulder that barred his path. As he strove to move it, behold! From above poured forth treasures uncounted—coins and golden bracelets, and jewels of every kind.

Great was his joy. He hastened home for a chest, gathered the riches, and hid them by the boulder. But still his heart was restless, for he yearned to know what lay beyond the stone. Thus he returned with his brothers, who were as base and wicked as himself, and together they set their strength to the task.

When at last the boulder shifted, the earth began to quake, and a chill fell upon them. The stone rolled aside, and from the cavern came forth a fearsome dragon, red as flame, with four great legs like a lizard’s, its tail striking the walls with thunderous force, and three tongues darting quick from its maw. In but a moment it seized the brothers and devoured them whole. The man, in terror, fled, nor did he stop until he reached his own farmstead.

But in the years that followed, his farm withered into ruin. The folk of the village cast him out, naming him fool and madman. None would believe his tale of dragon or treasure.

And so it came to pass that mothers told this story to their children, bidding them keep far from the lake.

(And yet—if the old tales speak true—the treasure lieth hidden still.)

From the info board, sources were:

· Woźniak Piotr, Złotniki Kujawskie i okolice w czasach staropolskich, Bydgoszcz 2004

· Weber Grzegorz, In the Footsteps of Past Times, Złotniki Kujawskie 2011

A blogger at Kujawy.blogspot.com commented: 

Perhaps there is a grain of truth in this legend. For, as another legend says:

"A long time ago, when Swedish troops were returning from Częstochowa, they passed through Tuczno and Dźwierzchno on their way to Łabiszyn. They dragged behind them chests of plundered loot. According to legend, this army lost most of the treasures while crossing Lake Pląsno.

The local forester and his son unearthed the loot and buried it elsewhere in case the Swedes returned. While carrying the crates, the young man was injured and died. The forester himself did not live long either.

Apparently, years later, part of the treasure was unearthed, but it brought no luck or money to anyone! And it was forgotten."

Source: kujawy.blogspot.com Based on legends recorded in church chronicles from the area of ​​the Złotniki Kujawskie commune.