Known since 1362. An inn is mentioned in 1408. In 1525–51 Sarkau belonged to the parish of Rossitten (Rybachy). In 1551–1808 it belonged to the parish of Kunzen (Krasnorechye). In 1553 the inhabitants of Sarkau were 1 innkeeper, 35 fishermen and 12 farmhands. By 1569 a second inn had opened, and the village was home to 2 innkeepers, 32 fishermen and 19 farmhands. In 1714, because of shifting sands, the village was moved 1.5 km to the south. In 1785 the old inn building in Sarkau was rebuilt.
In 1792 the inhabitants of Sarkau were officially granted the right to fish throughout the Curonian Lagoon. In 1808–85 Sarkau once again belonged to the parish of Rossitten (Rybachy). From 1811 trees were planted around Sarkau to stabilise the Spit.
In the 19th century Sarkau was a village forming a rural community in the Landkreis Fischhausen (from 1939 the Landkreis Samland). Until 1885 the settlement's church parish was in Rossitten (Rybachy), and from 1885 in Cranz (Zelenogradsk). In 1874 the Sarkau community was included in the newly established Amtsbezirk Rossitten (Rybachy). In 1901 a church was built, which together with the church of Cranz formed the joint parish of Cranz-Sarkau. On the night of 3–4 December 1924, 13 fishermen from Sarkau perished in a storm. In 1934 a monument was erected to them; it has since been lost. On 30 September 1929, when the forest Gutsbezirk Fritzen, Forst was reorganised, the dune warden's farmstead of Sarkau (Dünenaufsehergehöft Sarkau; 55°01'12'' N 20°37'08'' E) also became part of the Sarkau community.
On 3 February 1945 Sarkau was taken by troops of the 4th Shock Army.
The promenade of the Mayakovsky Hotel in Lesnoy (formerly Sarkau).
On 17 November 1947 Sarkau was renamed the settlement of Lesnoy. At first the settlement was part of the Rybachy Settlement Council of the Primorsk District.
Swimming pool in the grounds of the Mayakovsky Hotel .
In 2002 the Museum of Russian Superstitions opened in the settlement. On 19 April 2009 an experimental fish-breeding unit of the federal institution Zapbaltrybvod for rearing juvenile European whitefish was put into operation in Lesnoy.
Sights: the Museum of the Curonian Spit, the Museum of Russian Superstitions, the church (1901, now a house of culture), a memorial sign to whalers.
Population change: 1905 – 465, 1910 – 551, 1933 – 645, 1939 – 705, 1984 – 530, 2002 – 509, 2010 – 344 inhabitants.
Modern photo by Mikhail Ogorodnikov
Translated from Russian with the help of AI (Claude, Anthropic), October 2026.
