Engesund

For more than 350 years Engesund has been a place for hostelries and trading in the Fitjar islands. The place is centrally placed in the shipping lane, with a sheltered harbour close to the exposed Selbjørnsfjorden. Engesund was once part of the great network of historical stopover places on the coast.

Færøysund

The old trading post lies at the sound between Stord and Færøy in Langenuen. There was a country store and steamship forwarding agent up to 1964. The trade was then moved over to the new ferry harbour of Sandvikvåg.

Smedholmen

Årskog

Årskog farm is situated in a typical coastal landscape in a gentle terrain that slopes down from the outlying heaths down towards the fjord. The farm steading exists as it was in the 1800s. In 1980 the two brothers, Lars and Olai Årskog donated the farm with all its contents of tools and interior decoration, for museum purposes.

Færavåg

The main house at Færavåg was built in 1599. History tells us that a German came to Færavåg and built the house. He divided the land between his two sons. They in turn divided it between their two sons, thus there were four equal holdings on the farm. And it is said that all households lived in the same house. They each stayed in their own corner around the fire in the middle of the floor.

Flakka

Godøysund

The old hostelry centres were strategically placed with good harbours and anchoring conditions where people travelled. GODØYSUND, or Gøysundet, as it was called, was in the middle of Tysnes Parish, with easy access from the sea, also for the local population. Gøysundet is amongst the oldest hostelries in Sunnhordland.

Hovdanes

Klinkholmen

Kubbervik, or Vikjo as it was known colloquially, must have been established as a trading post under the farm of Håland some time around 1600. The reason for this was probably the thriving trade on Scotland. Every year ships from the islands in the west came to buy lumber in Bårsund. Vikjo was the harbour in use, as the place is ideally situated on the route through Bårsund, the sound between Reksteren and Tysnesøy.

Nedrevåge

Vågsbygdo was severely hit by landslides and rock falls in the decades around 1700, in addition, the rivers transported masses of loose sediment, both large stones and gravel. A lot of what slid down from the Vågsliene (slopes at Våg) collected in Neravåge. It was so bad that the damage “never again can be remedied or restored”, it was said in 1670.