In Wzdów, Kolberg stayed with Teofil Wojciech Ostaszewski, a landowner and social activist, and his wife, Emma, a pianist and daughter of the known composer, Michał Ogiński. Kolberg took advantage of their hospitality for almost a month, beginning at the end of July 1885. He wrote in a letter to his friend, Józef Blizinski: “I am still collecting materials, here, in Wzdów. There are more and more with each day; besides, I made myself at home here”.

Kolberg visited some peasants’ houses, which he then described: “In a chamber above the door and beneath the ceiling, there is a long beam, called ‘tram’ or ‘tragarz’. On the left hand side there is a clay stove with a bench where they put cooking pans or where they sit (in winter).

Children in winter sleep on stove benches above the stove. There are two bars from the stove to the wall used for hanging rags and drying hemp. In front of the door, beneath a window, there is a simple wooden table (or a chest); behind it, there is a bench, sometimes on a whole length of the wall. Next to the stove, there is a large bed for 2 people, and on the opposite side of the room, there is another bed or small table. Almost no one has a stool; in houses with small children there is a cradle”.