When relocating from their sand-covered village, the Curonians did not abandon their homes — instead, they dismantled them, transported the parts, and reassembled them in a new location. This is what the residents of the village of New Nagliai did. In 1843, some of them founded the settlement of Pervalka. The name itself is associated with the act of moving buildings from one place to another.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the village caught the attention of individual vacationers seeking refuge from the hustle and bustle of resort towns. In 1900, the Pervalka Lighthouse was built in the Curonian Lagoon near Pervalka, across from the Žirgai Cape of the Biržtvynas Peninsula. It has been rebuilt twice and is still in use today. It remains the only lighthouse in the Curonian Lagoon.