Samcheok Haesindang Park (삼척 해신당공원)

Description

Haesindang Park is home to the the nation’s largest aquarium museum, which exhibits folk materials that shows the lifestyle of fishermen of the East Sea, an arboretum and a park that displays some sexual art sculptures. In addition, there is an interesting bronze statue that tells about a legend of a nearby village.

* Legend of Aebawi and Haesindang
There once lived a young maid who was engaged. One day, the maid took her husband’s boat out to sea to harvest seaweed. Her husband dropped her off at a site that was at a distance from the beach. After promising to pick her up later, he returned to the beach to do his work. However, the weather turned bad as strong winds and pummeing waves begun. The husband failed to rescue his wife on time and she ultimately drowned. Since then, the villagers were unable to catch any fishes and some claimed that it wasbecause of the dead maid. To soothe the spirit of the dead maid, the villagers made several wooden carvings and held religious ceremonies. Later, fishes were gradually seen appearing and the villagers were able to fish and live comfortably again. Therefore, the place where the maid died was named Aebawi Rock and the building where the religious ceremony is held twice a year was named Haesindang. The ceremony is still honored today as a traditional folk event.

data provided by Korea Tourism Organization