Some exciting moments in history have been experienced where the present-day Hotel Ruusuhovi now stands on the shore of Lake Suuri Rauanvesi, not far from Lake Haukivesi. In 1715. Henrik Georg Harlin, an officer in the army of Charles XIIth, was released from war-time captivity in Russia. Harlin married one of the ladies-in-waiting of Catharine I. As it happened, this lady-in-waiting was so dear to Catharine that she gave the newlyweds a vase filled with roubles as their wedding present. This treasure caused a bunch of rouble-lusting Cossacks to give chase to the couple. Their flight led via Estonia to Uusimaa along the southern coast of Finland and from there on horseback to Rantasalmi. A local farmer provided the Harlins with a hiding place and the Cossacks went on their way without getting their prize. When peace finally came, ownership of the farm was transferred to the Harlins in accordance with an agreement made with the owner, and the Harlin family went on to run the farm on the shore of Lake Suuri Rauanvesi until the end of the 1800s. And even to this day one can sense the spirit of the nobility of former times at Ruusuhovi.