Guam Pavilion

About this place

Guam Pavilion stands on the banks of the Seomjin River alongside National Route 21 and the Seomjin River Bicycle Path, between Gumi Village and Naewol Bridge in Sunchang. The pavilion stands atop a rock called Donam or Baeam. This rock was a favorite fishing spot of Yang Bae (?-1500), an early Joseon scholar from nearby Namwon, and his brother Yang Don. Yang Bae had cultivated learning from an early age but, witnessing worthy men being unjustly persecuted in the Muo Sahwa (1498) and Gapja Sahwa (1504) purges, he turned his back on the court and retreated here with his brother to live in seclusion amid nature. In 1901 a three-bay-by-two-bay hipped-gable-roof tile pavilion was built here in memory of Yang Bae, which is today's Guam Pavilion. In 1990 it was designated a Jeollabuk-do Cultural Heritage Material. The nearby Gumi Village is a clan village of the Namwon Yang clan.