University of Bergen
The oldest history of Godøysund, before the place became a thriving place due to the Scottish trade in the 16th and 17th centuries, is not known. The name first surfaces as shipping place for the Scottish ships early in the 1600s. By and by “Gøysundet” became a place to spend the night, it became a trading post, a place where new transport could be had, and from 1750 it was a judicial centre for Opdal coastal administration district for more than a hundred years. The innkeepers also had a small rented place for fishing and they used fishing tackle that was much better and bigger than what the rest of the population had. They were also involved in buying and salting of herring and other fish.
Well into the 1800s Godøysund entered a new phase in its history. The place was modernised with the establishment of a post office and steamship harbour. The last Scottish ships may have visited Godøysund as late as the end of the 1800s.
Then there came the transition to the modern “Godøsund” in the 1880s, when the Bergen proprietor established “Godøsund Hotel”. This paved the way for tourism in Tysnes. The first guests were foreigners, mostly English, and in the beginning of the 1900s Godøsund was discovered by the Bergen bourgeoisie.
In the 1960s the store and the post office were closed down, the steamship arrivals stopped, and today only the hotel is still standing.
