Founded in 1283 as Neustadt Castle on the site of the Prussian settlement of Pilkup. In 1663 the place got its original name back. Because of drifting sand the settlement changed its location four times. In 1728–1839 there were even two settlements, Alt Pillkoppen and Neu Pillkoppen.
In the 19th century Pillkoppen was a village which from 1818 formed a rural community in the Kreis Fischhausen (Primorsk; from 1939 part of the Landkreis Samland).
The village belonged to the parish of Rossitten (Rybachy). In 1871 Pillkoppen had 18 residential houses, home to 25 families. On 13 June 1874 the rural community of Pillkoppen was included in the newly established Amtsbezirk Rossitten (Rybachy).
View of Pillkoppen from the Efa Dune before the Second World War.
In 1888–92 large-scale afforestation was carried out, which stabilised the movement of the dunes, after which the settlement no longer changed its location.
A fisherman's house at the foot of the Efa Dune in Pillkoppen.
In 1939 the Raul-Pillkoppen coastal battery was set up west of Pillkoppen to cover a stretch of the Spit's coast. The battery consisted of four concrete emplacements, on which 17 cm SK L/40 naval guns dating from the First World War were mounted. Before the Second World War there was a forestry office in the village.
On 17 November 1947 Pillkoppen was renamed the settlement of Morskoye. At first the settlement was part of the Rybachy Settlement Council. In 2019 the settlement had 75 residential and administrative buildings, as well as several guest houses and holiday centres. In 2020 the Raul-Pillkoppen battery was cleared and schematic models of the guns were installed on it. In the same year the sculpture "The Black Knight Olgerd" was erected in the settlement.
Sights: the Efa Dune, the ruins of the Raul-Pillkoppen coastal battery, the war grave of Senior Sergeant G.Kh. Shvabov (February 1945).
Population change: 1867 – 116, 1871 – 123, 1885- 175, 1905 – 230, 1910 – 228, 1925 – 292, 1933 – 301, 1939 – 301, 1984 – 150, 2002 – 143, 2010 – 132 inhabitants.
Composition of the population of Pillkoppen (1871): all 123 were Evangelical Christians, children under 10 – 26, literate – 72 (74%).
Photos on this page: Bildarchiv Ostpreußen, bildarchiv-ostpreussen.de.
Translated from Russian with the help of AI (Claude, Anthropic), October 2026.
