diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 7688f62b..f8b472c2 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 |---|---|---|---|
 |"Edit File Details" frame|N/A|GUI|High|
 |Right-click resync from watched folders table|N/A|GUI|Medium|
-|Persist known hosts|N/A|HostCache, infrastructure|High|
 |Fix reproducible build on Windows| N/A| Build scripts | Low|
 |Option to disable saving of search tabs| N/A | GUI | Medium |
 |Progress bar while collection preview is generated | 70 | GUI | Low |
diff --git a/host-cache/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/hostcache/HostCache.groovy b/host-cache/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/hostcache/HostCache.groovy
index 7517e18b..41c4a92b 100644
--- a/host-cache/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/hostcache/HostCache.groovy
+++ b/host-cache/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/hostcache/HostCache.groovy
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ public class HostCache {
         File unverified = new File("unverified")
         verified.mkdir()
         unverified.mkdir()
+        hostPool.load(verified)
         timer.schedule({hostPool.serialize(verified, unverified)} as TimerTask, 10000, 60 * 60 * 1000)
 
         session.addMuxedSessionListener(new Listener(hostPool: hostPool, toReturn: 3, crawler: crawler),
diff --git a/host-cache/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/hostcache/HostPool.groovy b/host-cache/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/hostcache/HostPool.groovy
index a0478faa..242e8cc8 100644
--- a/host-cache/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/hostcache/HostPool.groovy
+++ b/host-cache/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/hostcache/HostPool.groovy
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
 package com.muwire.hostcache
 
+import groovy.json.JsonSlurper
+import groovy.util.logging.Log
+import net.i2p.data.Destination
+
 import java.text.SimpleDateFormat
 import java.util.stream.Collectors
 
 import groovy.json.JsonOutput
 
+@Log
 class HostPool {
 
     private static final SimpleDateFormat SDF = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd-HH")
@@ -102,4 +107,40 @@ class HostPool {
             }
         }
     }
+    
+    synchronized void load(File path) {
+        File [] serialized = path.listFiles(new FileFilter() {
+            @Override
+            boolean accept(File pathname) {
+                return pathname.length() > 0
+            }
+        })
+        if (serialized == null || serialized.length == 0) {
+            log.info("couldn't find any files to load from.")
+            return
+        }
+        Arrays.sort(serialized, new Comparator<File>() {
+            @Override
+            int compare(File o1, File o2) {
+                return Long.compare(o2.lastModified(), o1.lastModified())
+            }
+        })
+        
+        File toLoad = serialized[0]
+        log.info("loading from $toLoad")
+        int loaded = 0
+        def slurper = new JsonSlurper()
+        toLoad.eachLine {
+            def parsed = slurper.parseText(it)
+            def host = new Host()
+            host.destination = new Destination(parsed.destination)
+            host.verifyTime = parsed.verifyTime
+            host.leafSlots = parsed.leafSlots
+            host.peerSlots = parsed.peerSlots
+            host.verificationFailures = parsed.verificationFailures
+            addUnverified(host)
+            loaded++
+        }
+        log.info("loaded ${unverified.size()}/$loaded hosts")
+    }
 }