Øpstad

The post house at Øpstad stands out in the landscape. An ochre yellow house with a loft and a white-painted house in Swiss style with ochre edgings, bears witness to a well preserved house from the 1800s, nearest neighbour to the beautiful old vicarage. In the Øpstad hamlet there was a post office for more than a hundred years, until the 1970s. Today it is possible to walk the old post road across the mountain to Strandvik, as part of “Den Stavangerske Postvei” (The post road to Stavanger).

Ølve- Mining

All in all there are ten known copper mines and two iron mines on the Ølve peninsula. Geologically, the nine mines on Varaldsøy Island also should be figured in. The industry began at Lilledal in 1642 wth the mining of iron ore. From Jernsmauget by Dyråsen, the iron ore was sent to the iron works in eastern Norway.

Åkrafjorden

Vågenes

On Vågenes, on one of the prominences out toward Eitrevågen, one finds garnets in anorthosite. The garnets are both older, and not least bigger, than average.

Verftet

Today the name “Verftet” is linked to both a district and conglomeration of buildings lying protected by Fredriksberg castle. The original shipyard was founded in the 1780s by Georg Brunchorst and Georg Vedeler. It was called Gerogenes Verft (the shipyards of the Georgs), and here ships were both built and repaired in the years after 1786.

Ullensvang church

Ullensvang church, situated beside the vicarage, in idyllic surroundings on the headland just inside Lofthus municipality, is mentioned for the first time in written sources in 1309. At that time the present Gothic stone church must have been new. Judging by the style in the western portal and the eastern chancel windows, the church must have been built around 1300 or just before, probably by builders from Bergen influenced by the English Gothic style.

Tyssedal

Today Tyssedal appears like a classical industrial community, a picture of modern Norway from the turn of the former century until today. A/S Tyssefaldene was established in 1906, and on 1 May 1908 Tyssedal power station was put into operation. The work on the first stage of the facility was completed in a short time, with a work force of 500 men. They built water tunnels, regulation reservoirs, power station, penstocks, harbour, cableways, office buildings, houses and 6 km of power lines in the wild mountains above Odda to provide the new melting plant with power.

Tysse

As early as 1862 Svein L.Røsseland started a country store and lodging house at Ytre Tysse, and later on he became steamship agent and the first post office manager in Samnanger. However, the decisive change came when F.Mathiessen started A/S Samnanger Uldvarfabrik (woollen factory) in 1886.

Tokagjelet

There is a sharp transition between the wide valley at Kvamskogen and the narrow Tokagjelet. The transition is no less dramatic when we come out of the crooked tunnels far down in the canyon, and the open Steinsdalen valley spreads out before us. The canyon both separates and joins together different epochs in western Norway's history.

Toftøyna