Jakobstad (Pietarsaari in Finnish) is a small bilingual town on the Gulf of Bothnia, founded in 1652 by Jacob de la Gardie. Nearly half its inhabitants speak Swedish as their mother tongue, giving it a character distinct from most Finnish towns. The old quarter of Skata, with its surviving wooden houses, is one of the best-preserved wooden town districts in Finland — a remarkable survival, since a devastating fire in 1850 destroyed almost everything else.
The town grew wealthy through shipbuilding and tobacco, and the harbour area has been redeveloped with Fantasea Park, which covers the local maritime and shipbuilding history alongside exhibitions on the region's fauna. Jakobstad is also the birthplace of Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finland's national poet, though his museum is in Porvoo, where he lived most of his adult life. The pedestrianised town centre is compact and pleasant, with a green park near the old college.