gm. Markusy, pow. elbl±ski, woj. warmińsko - mazurskie

The village was founded by the Teutonic Knights in 1337. Initially the village was located directly by the western shore of lake Drużno. Later, in the 16th century, the shoreline receded and a marsh was formed and then wet-ground forest. In 1558, the forest located to the east of Kępniewo was cleared by the flood bank association and timber was used to reinforce the flood bank. Ca. 1590, the cleared area was settled by Dutch under the emphyteutic contract - primarily Mennonites, who began to develop the area. The sources from 1776 mentioned the follwing surnames Albrecht, Dau, Dick, Dircksen, Friesen, Froes, Funck, Goertzen, Jantzen, Kleewer, Martens, Nickel, Pauls, Penner, Pholipsen, Quirling, Siebert, and Tank. In 1820, the village had 410 residents, including 98 Mennonites. The petition from 1868 was signed by Dawid Cornelsen, Heinrich Harms, two Cornelius Jantzens, Franz, Heinrich, Peter and Rudolf Jantzen, Nickel, Cornelius, Johann and Franz Pauls, Ferdynand Peters, Peter Quapp, Schmidt, and Jacob Siebert,

Village layout - marsh row village on the western side of the Zwierzno - Stare Dolno road, Waldhufendorf type village next to the causeway to Rachów, and a flood bank linear village on the northern side of the Modry Canal.

The cultural landscape of the village (Dutch homesteads) is in decline. Typical Dutch homesteads are disappearing with houses being their most durable elements. The majority of them have been modified or replaced by modern buildings that have nothing in common with the traditional architecture. Layouts of old Dutch homesteads have survived in relatively large numbers - ca. 35.The majority of historical buildings date from the 2nd half of the 19th century. They include ca. 25 wooden and bricked houses. An 18th century house from a Dutch homestead (demolished in 1990s), a cowshed with a gable arcade, and a Mennonite cemetery have survived. The cemetery is severely devastated with fragments of surrounding vegetation, a gate, and remains gravestones. A field layout on the eastern and western sides of roads and a canal and ditch network are well detectable. Fragments of homestead vegetation homesteads have survived. Trees lining the roads have been cut down, but the rows of willows lining the drainage canals have survived.

The Mennonite cemetery is located ca. 150 m to the west of the Zwierzno - Stare Dolno road, on the northern side of a birch alley. It was established at the end of the 18th century and has a rectangular layout, two uneven plots with linden tree rows. There are 140 graves with gravestones of the following families: Boerzen, Froehlich, Gringel, Grunau, Heinrichs,Jarke, Jansen, Penner, Riesen, and Unger. The oldest preserved gravestone in the form of a cippus dates from 1796. There are also 2 cippuses, 7 stalls, 2 cast iron crosses, and a granite grave of the Janzens.
No. 22 is a Dutch homestead of the longitudinal type situated on the eastern side of the Zwierzno - Brudzędy road, facing it with its ridge. The home was erected at the beginning of the 20th century in place of an earlier house. It is made of brick and has a stone/brick underpinning, a gable and a pointing sill decorated with Fachwerk, and pantile roofing. The interior has a 2-bay layout with even bays and without a black kitchen. The gable elevation has 2 axes, a two-level gable, two windows enclosed by skylights, and a triangular window in the finial. The western elevation has  5 axes and a centrally located entrance with a porch.
No. 32 is a Dutch homestead of the angular type consisting of a house, a cowshed, and a perpendicular barn. The homestead is located in the eastern section of the village, on the southern side of the road (running perpendicularly) to Wi¶niewo, facing it with its ridge. The house was erected at the end of the 18th century on a brick underpinning. It has a log structure with quoins covered by boards with carved arches, a half-timbered vertically boarded gable, and a rafter - collar beam roof structure. Originally, the roof (with a bullseye) was thatched with reeds. The interior has a two-bay layout with a wider southern bay and the large room in the southwestern corner, a black kitchen in the large room bay, and an L-shaped hallway that separates the northern farming section (with a corridor leading to the cowshed) from the rest. Remains of old door frames and painted flowery friez have survived inside the house. The gable elevation has 2 axes, a two-level gable, two windows in the lower level enclosed by rhomboidal skylights, and a square window in the finial. The southern elevation has 5 axes with an entrance in the 2nd axis from the east.
No. 34 was a Dutch homestead of the longitudinal type consisting of a house, a cowshed, and a barn. The homestead is located in the eastern section of the village, on the southern side of the road (running perpendicularly) to Wi¶niewo, facing it with its gable. The house was erected at the end of the 18th century on a brick underpinning. It had a log structure with quoins covered by boards, a half-timbered, vertically boarded gable, and a rafter - collar beam roof structure covered by reed thatching. The interior had a two-bay layout with a wider western bay and the large room in the northwestern corner, a black kitchen in the large room bay, a wide hallway adjacent to the cowshed wall. The gable elevation had 2 axes and a single window. The southern elevation had 4 axes with an entrance in the southern axis. The building does not exist.
No. 36 is an arcaded house from a Dutch homestead situated in the eastern section of the village, on the northern side of the crosswise road to Wi¶niewo, facing it with its gable. The house was erected in 1810 and modified in the 4th quarter of the 19th century. It has a stone-brick underpinning, a log structure with quoins covered by boards imitating Tuscan pilaster, a brick fire wall of a former cowshed, a half-timbered vertically boarded gable, an extension (eastern side) above an arcade supported by 12 wooden Ionian columns on brick pedestals, a queen post - purlin, two-collar beam, two-level roof structure, and pantile roofing. Currently, the interior consists of 3 similar bays, which were formed by dividing the large room and the arcade hallway. After the cowshed had been demolished, the owner made an additional entrance in the brick gable. A utility corridor became the presentable section. The building is richly decorated - cones of Ionian heads with volutes between them, scarf joints of rafters supporting a profiled top plate, finials of the arcade and the house, carved wind ties and planking.
No. 92 is a house from an old Dutch homestead of the longitudinal type situated in the southern section of the village by the Modry Canal, facing it with the ridge. Originally, the homestead had an arcade added to the barn. Currently, only half of the house with an extension “for parents" has survived. The building was erected at the end of the 18th century and modified in the 3rd quarter of the 19th century. It has a corner-notched log structure with quoins covered by boards and a rafter - collar beam roof structure. Only the eastern section with the large room and an adjacent room has survived. The "parents’ section" has 3 rooms. There are remains of an arcade to the east of the house. It is used as a separate utility room.
No. 92 was a granary (no longer existing) situated on the western side of the yard, facing the Modry Canal with its ridge. According to an inscription carved in a header, it was erected in 1776 for an owner with initials H. R. by a carpenter A. R. The building had a stone underpinning, log structure with quoins connected by shallow scarf joints with side notches (covered by boards), vertically boarded gables, and a rafter - collar beam roof structure. A small room was sectioned off in the northeastern corner. The gable elevation had 2 axes and a side elevation, 4 axes with an entrance in the 2nd axis from the west.