Ferstad

Published: 21.01.2013 | Author: Nils Georg Brekke

Ferstad is beautifully situated in the cultural landscape. (Svein Nord).

Ferstad is well worth a visit. The farm lies on a little hillock south of Lekven: a beautiful official residence from the 1700s.

Ferstad is one of the few farms in Os that have not belonged under Lyse Monastery or any of the other large agricultural estates. From 1670 and for 200 years hence, priests and officers have been the owners, and they naturally had others to run the property for them. At the end of the 19th century the farm also served as a guesthouse.

The oldest part of the main house is from 1645, after all the houses on the farm had burned. This was before the time when government employees were given agricultural estates, and this building was an ordinary farmhouse. It was in the 1700s that the house gained its stately appearance. At that time a servants’ quarters and a house for the oldest generation were added as wings to the main house.

The main house has been restored and contains many fine details in the interior.

The post-tour to Stavanger

When the postal routes were established in 1647, the postal route to Stavanger crossed Os, with boat across Bjørnefjorden to Våge, and further overland to Søreide on Tysnes. From here there was boat transport to Haga on Stord, and further to Borgundøy and to Nerheim in Ølen. After several capsizings on Bjørnefjorden, the route was redirected over Hatvik in 1758, where there was a change of transport, then a continuation with boat across Fusafjorden to the next change of transport at Øpstad, and then further on across the Fusa mountain to Særvoll in Strandvik. From there, the route continued by boat to Sundfjord in Lygrapollen – one of the longest stages by fjord in Hordaland – and further overland to Huse in Ølve, where the boat transport took over to Herøysund.

If we look at the transport routes across Bjørnefjorden, we immediately see that the farm Ferstad lies in the communication line towards the east. The farms Ferstad, Lunde and Halhjem lie close to sheltered and deep sounds, and it is hardly surprising that we find the site for the long ships of Framnes coastal administration district in Lekvenvågen. The name Ferstad is probably derived from “ferry place”; communications across the fjord to Fusa. Perhaps it was this route they took, the monks from Lyse when they travelled to the monastery farm Opedal in Hardanger. Right up until the middle of the 1800s the church road for the Øya inhabitants was by boat to Hauglandssjøen, across land to Ferstad and again with boat to Os.