In 1703, an attempt was made to found a navigation school in Stege. This failed, but generally the Danish economy was beginning to recover from the long period of wars. In 1769, Crown property on Møn was sold which allowed farmers to buy their own land and wealthy individuals to create estates and begin to settle on the island. In 1774, a major fire destroyed 112 properties in the northern part of Stege, but by 1782 there were four distilleries in the town, and by 1807, 18.