Herand- Tveiti sawmill

Tveiti sawmill in Herand is probably the last water-powered sash-saw in the country that has been in regular operation up to our time. There has been a sash-saw here since the 1700s, and on the other side of the river there are remains of an even older saw.

Kjerland

On the farms Kjerland and Røynstrond, east of the river that flows into the fjord, we find many decorative painters who belong to the so-called sòlekistemålarane in Hardanger: Knut and Mikkjel Røynstrand and Johannes Jonsson Kjærland.

Nedre Folkedal

For many years the Folkedal scythe had a good reputation. Immediately above the highway through Folkedal there is a long brick building, on the inner side of the river. Here production of scythes went on to the beginning of the 1950s.

Storegraven

The first mention of Granvin church in written sources is in 1306, but the church location must be far older than this. The farm Storegraven is centrally situated at Granvinsvatnet, by the important traffic artery between Hardanger and Voss, where the road takes off to Ulvik.

Holmen

HOLMEN AND THE KØLLE FAMILY Holmen lies by the fjord, innermost in Ulvikpollen. Originally this was a small smallholding or coast dweller’s place belonging to the farm Håheim. Major Johan Henrik Palludan obtained leasehold for a part of Holmen in 1773, and erected a grand house, as he was the head of Nordre Hardangerske kompani. In 1806 Mrs Palludin sold Holmen to the somewhat eccentric theologian Kristian Kølle, and thus the Kølle family came to Ulvik. Today the Kølle house in Holmen is gone, today it is the residence of the principal of the State horticultural school that occupies the ground – a villa in the dragon style from the turn of the previous century.

Ulvik church

Vallaviki

When Anders Paulson Wallevik (1874-1965) took over the sloop “Haabet” after his father around 1900, he established a wide-ranging business, merchant, steamship agent, post manager, ship-owner, sloop skipper – and photographer. Without doubt it is as photographer he has left his mark.

Odland

The auger smithies in Odland and Fosse were amongst those which had the largest production of augers in the period between the Wars. Martinus Fosse built a smithy in 1877, and this was in operation right up to the 1980s - one of the centres for auger production in Meland. In 1930 yet another smithy was built here. There was a smithy at Fossesjøen as early at the 18th century, and at the end of the 19th century they went over to auger smithing. There is still a market for hand-forged augers.

Mo

The farms in Modalen are situated on old, fertile sediment beds from the river or the sea – between Mofjorden and Steinslandvatnet. As far back as the Middle Ages Mo has been a church location for the valley and the farms above.

Hamre Church

Hamre Church has, by all accounts been one of the four main churches in Horda County in the Middle Ages. Hamre was a main church for the whole of Hordaland. Timber remains in the present church show that there was a stave church here in medieval times.