Rosendal Barony

The Barony of Rosendal lies in the grounds of the old noble estate of Hatteberg, on the north side of the Hatteberg river, around one kilometre up from the sea. The three noble estates Seim, Mel and Hatteberg constituted the core of the large estate taken over by Ludvig Rosenkrantz in 1662, after he was married to Karen Mowat in 1658.

Rød

In 1969 Sigurd and Margreta Dønhaug donated a collection of around 170 historical cultural objects to Kvinnherad municipality. They wanted their gift to become the start of a farm collection in Uskedalen. And that is what happened.

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.

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.

Litlabø

The first finds of pyrite at Litlabø in Stord came to light in 1864. Forty years later sulphuric ore was mined from an open mine. From 1874 to 1880 it was used for dynamite production. That came to a sudden end when the factory exploded and three people died.

Sørhuglo

The tax collector’s farm at Sørhuglo is one of the many farms for state employees in Hordaland. According to history, “Futastovo” was built by the tax collector Gram in the second half of the 17th century. In 1943 the building was moved to Sunnhordland Folk Museum.

Einstapevoll- the farm

Einstapevoll (from einstape: “bregne” (fern)) lies on the west side of the Tittelsnes peninsula. Up to 1831 the farm was a vicarage belonging to Stord parish. The priests had leasing rights. Land rent and other fees from the farm was part of their salaries.

Tangarås

From his loft window on the doctor’s farm at Tangarås the young Hans Ernst Kinck had a view of the fjord and the Mauranger mountains. The fjord settlements in West Norway made a strong impression on the young boy when his family moved from Setesdal, from “the stifling mystique of the ballad”, to Strandebarm in 1876. The new district doctor bought the old captain’s farm at Tangarås, which had for some time been a military head farm after Håbrekke further into the settlement.

Vikøy

Through Adolph Tidemand’s detailed close-ups of smokehouses in Kvam, the vicarage in Vikøy, where he lived during his painting trips through Hardanger, has obtained a central position in the Norwegian national romanticism.

Øystese- Kvam rural museum