In the 19th century, no Russian villa settlements were established in Kexholm, even though the town was situated relatively close to St Petersburg. Russians owned only a few larger estates, and these had already passed into Finnish ownership before the War of Independence.
One of the grand manors in the Käkisalmi region was Joensuun Hovi, whose extensive lands extended right up to the edge of the town. The manor was owned by the Russian Leontjev family. The manor was first transferred through purchase to agronomist Osvald Lång, who in turn sold the manor to his brother Alex.

After this, the owner of the estate, Juho Ampiala from Central Finland, stepped into his place. He was looking for fertile land for farming, and of course, Karelia had plenty of that. In the rural municipality of Käkisalmi, on the shore of Lake Ostama, by the banks of the Pontus River (Pontus Dela Garde) flowing into Lake Ladoga, he found a suitably sized estate with buildings, which Juho Ampiala bought from Alex Lång, the director of the Kurkijoki Agricultural School, on 3 November 1892, paying 50,000 marks for it.

In the 1896 manor inspection, it was noted that the fields were in good condition and had been ditched and fenced. There was 19 hectares of arable land and 53 hectares of cultivated bogs. Of the meadows, 16 hectares were farmed by crofters and 100 hectares were for the manor's own use. The estate had 7 horses, 40 dairy cows and 10 pigs. A dairy also operated on the manor. Ampijala Manor supplied the Kexholm garrison with 70,000 litres of milk and 2,400 kg of butter annually. At its largest, the manor had 600 hectares of land.

The estate had good fishing waters in the Vuoksi river and Lake Ostama. The hired staff included a head farmhand, four farmhands, two maids and a dairymaid. The farmhands were paid 200 marks a year and the maids 80 marks. That is, a maid's mark was worth 40 pennies at that time. During the harvest season, the manor required 150 male and 150 female working days.

During Juho Ampiala's time, the manor also functioned as a training facility where the bailiff handled management duties, and the gardener was responsible for the operation of the greenhouses and the garden.

Juho Ampiala had quite a job making the money last in running the manor's finances. The court was initially also without a mistress. The situation was rectified when a correspondence with Maria Aina from Jämsä, which began from their first meeting in 1891, ended in the wedding of Juho and Maria celebrated in Jämsä on 26.06.1894.

Lady of the manor from Jämsä

The young mistress had not visited Käkisalmi before, but having seen the manor, she was satisfied with what she saw. Juho and Maria had four children in total: Ossi in 1895, Eeva in 1896, Aimo in 1898, and Saara in 1900.
The children first attended a ambulatory primary school, which corresponded to a later primary school, and after that they had a private tutor who prepared them for the entrance examination to secondary school. Middle school and upper secondary school were in Kexholm.

The manor's main building was completely remodelled at the owner's request. Harald Neovius, an architect from Kexholm, designed the timber building, which featured a tower as well as various balconies and porches. The house had 18 heated rooms. In addition, there were four villa buildings by the river for summer guests.

50-90 summer guests annually

From 1900 until 1936, the manor accommodated summer guests. During the Tsarist era, some of the guests were Russian, including officer and artist families; some of the guests enjoyed painting, and one even had a proper art salon in St Petersburg. There were also guests from Italy, Germany, Poland and, of course, Finland. Guests were attracted through newspaper advertisements in St Petersburg newspapers.
At that time Russian was taught in schools, and so the headteacher of the school, Betty Peronius, was asked to help the people of Ampiala, and initially she translated the letters into Finnish. Later, Eeva Ampiala took charge of the correspondence.
The guests were accommodated in Ampijala's villa buildings and the rooms on the third floor of the manor. Morning coffee was brought to the guests in bed. Other meals were eaten together in the dining room.

Juho Ampiala was also artistically gifted, which is why the manor also developed into a widely known summer resort for Finnish artists. Thanks to the summer guests, an artists' colony grew on the shores of Lake Ladoga, which brought colour and splendour to the life of the parish during the summer months. There were between 50 and 90 guests each summer.

From the guestbook, one could pick out, among others, the names of actress Mimmi Lähteenoja, who was a pillar of the Finnish National Theatre and a summer visitor every year; likewise, the National Theatre actor couple Ruth and Jussi Snellman (Ruth was Sibelius's daughter); and the composer and organist Armas Maasalo, who spent his childhood in Kexholm, along with his family.  

Actor and theatre director Aku Käyhkö, whose nephew was Kauko Käyhkö of the Skipper Quartet, and painter Antti Väänänen. Painter Markus Collin, who did not like soft landscapes like those in Ampiala, and moved to Southwest Finland to paint. Painter Veli Kalima; Taimi Valjakka, née Rinne, was a portrait painter and art teacher, and the mother-in-law of singer Taru Valjakka.

Erkki Melartin's closest

Of the summer guests, however, the one closest to the Ampiala family was Erkki Melartin. When Juho Ampiala bought Joensuu Manor in 1892, he was 26 years old and Erkki Melartin was 17. Thus, Erkki Melartin got to know the Ampiala family at a young age, and this close interaction continued throughout his life. Later, after the Melartin family had moved from Käkisalmi to Savonlinna, Ampiala became his holiday home. The Ampiala children remembered Melartin particularly for their shared circle-dance evenings. Erkki was always the first one in the circle. Whenever a new song appeared, he would step aside and put the tunes down on paper. Eeva Ampiala recorded the lyrics of the songs. This is how Melartin's collection of 200 folk songs was created. When on holiday, Erkki Melartin generally avoided other summer guests and rarely visited anywhere other than his former family home, Tapiola.

Erkki was accommodated in the most valuable room of the house, the office chamber below the observation tower, which had black baroque furniture upholstered in dark green velvet fabric, and the bed ends featured lion motifs.  
Erkki Melartin also enjoyed painting, and an interest in the visual arts also took hold of the entire Ampiala family, as Eeva and Ossi studied at the Ateneum. Eeva qualified as an art teacher, but Ossi had to return to work on the estate when his father died suddenly in 1921.

Ampiala Manor withstood the strains of the war and was used as a camp centre, but the lands surrounding the manor were left without care. In January 2016, Ampiala Manor burned to the ground. Ampiala was a heritage site designated by the Republic of Karelia.