Where time slows down on old houses

There are lands where, just by setting foot in them, one can hear the gentle breathing of time. Dong Hoa Hiep is such a place. A rare ancient village in the West that still retains its hundred-year-old appearance: precious wooden houses, straight rows of areca trees, lush green gardens leaning over small canals.

Dong Hoa Hiep, a rare ancient village in the West that still retains its hundred-year-old appearance. Photo: Minh Thanh

Here, the living space is like an open memory book. The wind from the Tien River carries a bit of the salty alluvium, passing through each house, each intricately carved ironwood door, then stopping at the back porch, where people still leisurely make lotus tea and tell stories about their ancestors opening the land.

Dong Hoa Hiep is not only beautiful because it is ancient. It is beautiful because the people preserve the village as if it were their soul. People depend on nature to live: in the flood season they cast nets and fish, in the dry season they tend their orchards. Each ancient house is not only a physical heritage but also a “school” without a chalkboard, teaching lessons about moderation, about respecting roots, about how to live in harmony with the land, water, trees and people.

Tourists coming here not only visit, but also touch the lifeblood of a cultural region. They can walk under the shade of ancient trees, listen to the sound of beams and columns creaking like the melody of time, and enjoy a simple but full of village meal. It feels like every step is "walking lightly" so as not to awaken an ancient tradition that is still sleeping peacefully.

Walking along the small, tree-lined streets of the ancient village of Dong Hoa Hiep, one can easily come across ancient houses with a very unique beauty: both familiar with the Southern folk architecture and imbued with the European breath through the moldings, lines, and patterns of the French style. The arched windows, yin-yang tiled roofs, rows of ironwood columns, classical decorative motifs with delicate carvings… all blend together like a silent dialogue between two cultures half a world apart.

Each ancient house is like a page of history book opened in the middle of daily life. Dong Hoa Hiep is not only a place to preserve the memories of a fertile land but also tells the story of more than a century of the Southern region going through many changes: reclamation, trade, colonization, and integration. The ancient house architecture is therefore not simply a place to live, but a vestige of overlapping cultural layers, a testament to the adaptation and harmony of the Southern people, both accepting the new and keeping the roots.

In Dong Hoa Hiep, heritage does not live in a glass cage. It lives with the people, in the way they tell stories, the way they entertain guests, in the dishes, in the fruit garden and in the small but enduring customs. That is what creates the value of “living heritage”, an increasingly important concept in modern economic thinking: heritage is not just for viewing, but can become a driving force for development.

From a heritage economic perspective, Dong Hoa Hiep ancient house shows a valuable lesson: when the community understands the value of heritage and knows how to tell its own story, heritage will automatically open up livelihood opportunities. Experiential tourism, local cuisine , garden cultural spaces, accommodation services in ancient houses… can all become components of a sustainable economic-cultural ecosystem. The most important thing is not to build a lot of new things, but to preserve the old in a way that allows it to continue to live, breathe, and spread.

Those houses have stood through many flood seasons and many changes of the times. Now, they continue to accompany the people on a new journey, a journey to turn heritage into a resource, not a burden; a source of pride, not just nostalgia. Dong Hoa Hiep is therefore not only an ancient village, but also a symbol of the Southern heritage economic thinking: respecting the past to create the future.

The ancient village of Dong Hoa Hiep reminds us that development does not necessarily mean destroying the old; sometimes, it is the old that opens up new perspectives. Preserving an ancient village is not just about keeping a few houses, but about preserving a way of life, a philosophy, and an identity of the river region.

And because of that, Dong Hoa Hiep becomes a place for everyone to understand that the future of the countryside lies not only in modern models, but also in what has endured over time, from the wooden door carvings to the generosity of the people in the countryside.

Le Minh Hoan

Source: https://baodongthap.vn/noi-thoi-gian-cham-lai-tren-nhung-nep-nha-xua-a233720.html