Juodkrantė (literally: Black Shore, Kursenieki: Šatnūrta or Šatnūrte, German: Schwarzort[1]) is a Lithuanian seaside resort town located on the Curonian Spit with a permanent population of about 720 people.

Juodkrantė was first mentioned (as Schwarzort) by the Teutonic Knights in 1429 in a letter describing storm damages.

In the early 17th century, due to the Black Death, and moving sand dunes threatening to bury the town, it lost almost all of its inhabitants.

From the 18th century, the town formed part of the Kingdom of Prussia, within which it belonged to the Memel/Klaipėda County until 1740, then from 1740–1795 to the Karvaičiai (then Germanized as Karwaiten) Church District.

It grew in importance after Carwaiten/Karvaičiai/Karwaiten village was swallowed by traveling sand and the seat of the Church District relocated here.

In 1871, the town became part of the German Empire, within which it was administratively located in the province of East Prussia.

The tourist business was started in 1860s by Edward Stellmacher, who turned an old tavern house into a hotel named Kurischer Hof (Lithuanian: Kuršių kiemas, now Gintaras).

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 5 hotels, 20 villas, and a convalescent home Luisenbad (Lithuanian: Luizės maudykla).

Richard Klebs, professor at Königsberg University, described 435 items (pendants, buttons, tubular beads, discs, and figurines of humans and animals) in his book Stone Age Amber Adornments in 1882.

Some families moved to Juodkrantė from Karwaiten (Karvaičiai) when sand buried this site completely in 1797.

A large collection of wooden sculptures by various artists is displayed on the Hill of Witches (Lithuanian: Raganų kalnas).

The cormorants were exterminated at the end of the 19th century due to Prussian administration regulations and started to reappear only in the 1970s.

The large cormorant colony has damaged the old and fragile forest because the birds' excrement burns tree roots.

Fishermen blame the birds for diminishing fish catches, but unlike in Prussia, the regulations now do not allow killing them as both grey heron and great cormorant are protected species in Lithuania.

Navigation - Juodkrantė Lighthouse (20m) int.no 0049 (C3334) - White rectangle on black square metal framework tower with viewing platform.