Vasaraperä was already an area designated as a financial village in the 1760s.
The road over Mourusalmi was completed in 1927, the bridge was completed only in the 1980s.
The original farm was a large Jäkäläniemi mantal farm owned by Kalle and Jalmari Määttä (Jalmari Määttä gave Eino Määttä his farm). They were already housing tourists in the 1930s.
Jäkäläniemi was probably already settled in 1760, when the first resident was Juho Pekanpoika Määttä from Vasaraperä.
Huutola’s shop
The store was founded by Adam Huutola, who came to Kuusamo as a bag peddler at the beginning of the 20th century and Lyyti Huutola b. Määttä (from Tolvanniemi, Iso Tyvelä, the eldest daughter of the house, was called Tyvi-Lyyti). Adam Huutola’s wife received a horse as a dowry – this was the beginning of the development of “Huuto-Aatami’s” merchant career and the bag peddler became a successful businessman.
The first shop was established in Hyväniemi, Vasaraperä shop after that. Later, they expanded their operations by establishing a shop in the centre of Posio. They later started a shop van operation that travelled from the centre of Posio to nearby villages.
Määttälä estate, the oldest estate in the village, was settled in the 17th century. E.g., Keskitalo, Männikkö, Lehtoaho, Määttä and Peltoniemi families descend from the Päätalo family.
The Association of Peace and Vasaraperä school are still visible in the village picture. Vasaraperä school is more than 100 years old (founded in 1893) and is in tourist use (2021).
