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The year is 1807. In Fiksdalen, Ola Kvernhusdalen is working his fields. The Napoleonic Wars are ravaging Europe. The Danish-Norwegian Kingdom remains neutral for as long as possible. Following the attack on Copenhagen by the British in August, in what has been known as the great fleet robbery, the Danish Prince Regent Fredrik is forced...

The autumn of 1899 was like a dream. For the first few weeks of October, herring prices rose by up to 15 kr a barrel, and on October 13th, prices peaked at as much as 40 kr! It was the autumn of opportunity and adventure. Herring shoals were plentiful, prices were good and the weather...

Ocean smell saturates the air. Salty and fresh, a light breeze well suited for sailing on a fair weather day at sea. Fish is being salted at the factory. The women share lively conversations as they routinely cover the fish with salt using large scoops. Today, the weather is perfect for spreading the cleaned fish...

Norway’s tallest lighthouse towers 46 meters above sea level, built in cast iron and situated on a skerry outside the Titran fishing village. The lamp was lit in the autumn of 1923, and Sletringen Lighthouse became a guiding star for captains and fishermen. Building the lighthouse was quite a feat. The lighthouse commission approached Foreman...

On a cool and windy spring day in 1942, the Soviet prisoner of war, Andrei, arrives at the Titran fishing village, along with 150 other captives. Cold and scared, he stands outside the Ohrset Wharf at Stabben, staring out at the bleak coastal landscape. He doesn’t know where he is or how long he will...

The large coastal cairns at Slakken are memorials to friends and loved ones buried during the Early Iron Age, more than 1,500 years ago. The cairns are particularly visible from the sea, and to seafarers they signalled that people lived on this land. The dead residing in the mounds could gaze across both land and...

A summer day in 1913 Olai runs along the road to Refsneshagen. In his pocket he has the letter to Uncle John in America. He hurries a little, as his mother has told him to come straight back home, since dinner is almost ready. He knows the road well; he has walked it with his...

Once upon a time there were two married men from Stjørna. They both took a fancy to Barbara, the wife of the farmer at Husby. One winter Barbara and the two lovers came up with a plan to get rid of her husband. They drilled a hole in the wall right by the bed of...

There once stood a simple log cabin on the Refsnes oceanfront. In the cabin, men sat patiently waiting for the salmon to enter the bay. This was the vorp, an ancient fishing method which is also called ståarnot or sitjenot, meaning sitting net, because you sit, waiting and scouting for salmon. In the sea below...

At the start of the 20th century, landowner Anders Refsnes (1879-1939) dammed up the pond on his farm in order to produce ice. The ice from the new ice pond was needed to keep the salmon caught in the seine nets at the farm cold and fresh during the voyage to Trondheim. Today the ice...