Everyone Photographs Seongeup Folk Village — But Do You Know the Era That Thatched Roof Once Governed?
still a village where people live
When people think of a Jeju trip, oreum, beaches, or the latest trending cafés usually come to mind first. But there's one village where time seems to move a little differently — Seongeup Folk Village, in Pyoseon-myeon, Seogwipo City. This isn't just a village dressed up to look traditional for tourists. It's said to be the very place where the government office of Jeongui-hyeon once stood, one of the three counties of Joseon-era Jeju alongside Jeju-mok and Daejeong-hyeon. Walk through the village lanes today and you'll still find low stone walls and thatched roofs running unbroken, which gave me the feeling of briefly stepping back in time. Today GYULI wants to walk you through what this place once was, and what still remains of it now.
The Seat of Jeongui-hyeon: What's Behind the Name Seongeup
Joseon-era Jeju wasn't governed as one single island the way it is today — it's said to have been divided into three counties, Jeju-mok, Daejeong-hyeon, and Jeongui-hyeon, each ruled separately. Jeongui-hyeon was the county that oversaw the eastern part of Jeju, and its government office — the administrative seat that would govern the region — is said to have stood right where today's Seongeup-ri now sits. The name itself is said to carry the meaning of 'a county enclosed by a fortress wall,' and traces of the old fortress that once surrounded the village are said to still remain in part today. In other words, Seongeup Folk Village isn't just a cluster of old houses — it carries the weight of once having been the administrative center of an entire county.
A place that once held a government office is also, in that sense, a place where people have gathered and been governed for a very long time.
— 🍊 GYULIThe village still has Ilgwanheon standing today, said to have served as the government office building of Jeongui-hyeon. It's said to have been the building where Joseon-era officials once conducted their work, and even at a glance, its tiled roof carries a clearly different weight compared to the low thatched houses around it. Right next to it stands Jeongui-hyanggyo, a local Confucian school, which suggests this area wasn't just a residential quarter but a center where Jeongui-hyeon's administration and education once took place together. These lanes are now a place where tourists stroll slowly and look around, but it's a different feeling entirely to imagine how busy these same alleys once were with the footsteps of people running the affairs of an entire county.
The Thatched Roofs and Stone Walls Still Standing Today
Walk through Seongeup Folk Village and the first thing that catches your eye is the low stone walls running along the lanes and the thatched roofs woven from silvergrass. Jeju is a volcanic island where stone has always been plentiful, so it's said that walls around fields and houses were naturally built by stacking this basalt rock loosely together, and Seongeup Folk Village is said to still have these old stone walls wrapping around much of the village today. The thatched roofs are much the same. It's said that, to withstand Jeju's frequent strong winds, roofs were traditionally bound tightly with straw rope, and this village is said to still maintain its roofs the same way today. The narrow lanes connecting house to house, known as olle, are another sight worth seeing here. You can still find jeongnang here and there, the old system of laying a few wooden bars across the gateway instead of a proper gate — and it's said that the number of bars laid across once told neighbors whether the owner was home or had just stepped out. A quiet communication system that held its own, even without a doorlock.
A Village Where People Still Actually Live
What makes Seongeup Folk Village especially special is that it isn't simply a display recreating what things once looked like. Real residents are said to still live in the village's thatched houses today. That means, right next to the lanes tourists walk through to look around, someone is still going about their everyday life. Old zelkova and hackberry trees, said to have stood watch over the village for a long time, also rise here and there throughout the village. Rather than state exactly how old these trees are, I'd rather say, carefully, that they're trees that have watched over the village's long stretch of time.
With most tourist spots, it's easy to snap one pretty photo and rush off to the next place. But GYULI would love for you to walk through Seongeup Folk Village a little differently. As you walk slowly along the low stone walls, take a moment to remember that these lanes once served as the center running the affairs of an entire county called Jeongui-hyeon, and that someone is still actually living in these thatched houses today. It's not far from Pyoseon Beach, so adding Seongeup Folk Village as your next stop after the beach could make for a nice route.
GYULI's Tip · Seongeup Folk Village is in Pyoseon-myeon, Seogwipo City, and is said to be more convenient to reach by car than by public transit. Since many residents actually live in the village, it's a good idea to walk the lanes quietly and respectfully.