The village of Käsmu is laid out along a single street between the chapel and the museum, lined with the wooden houses of the nineteenth-century sea captains who gave the village its nickname — Kaptenite küla, the captains' village. The largest and most elaborate, identifiable by elaborate gables and weather vanes, belonged to the most successful captains; smaller cottages belonged to first mates and ship's carpenters.
A short walk along the main street takes in perhaps a dozen historic houses, several of them now operating as guesthouses. Notice the brass nameplates beside the doors — many still record the captain who built the house and the name of his ship. The village population in its peak years (around 1900) was about 500, of whom 62 were certified sea captains.