The site of the house in the period between the wars, with Hartmann Eliseussen and his wife Sigrid. The original owners may have been Hartmann’s parents, Johan Elisæussen and Annedortea Pedersdatter. The last people to live in the house were Hartmann and Sigrid’s foster son, Henning, who died in the early 1980s.

Visiting Hartmann and Sigrid must have been a pleasant experience. In the passage there would have been a lovely smell of turf, hay and fishing equipment

a smell that mingled with the mild aroma of the cowshed. Order reigned in the passage and Sigrid had placed little “bikkogiloer” (paraffin lamps) at every corner. If it was dark, the lights would show the way to the kitchen door. Several stacks of turf inside the passage indicate that Hartmann was an unusually meticulous man. They were also blessed with a well that did not freeze in winter.

On Sunday morning, which was a day of rest even if the fish were leaping right out of the sea, the man-folk would assemble outside the shed. On a bench against the wall “current affairs” would be taken up and attempts made to resolve them by the best possible means. Conversations mostly revolved around day-to-day matters: fishing, the weather and the berry harvest. Different pieces of news would be set up on the wall, together with storm warnings and draft details. Traces of newspapers from this period are still visible on the wall of the shed today.

Photograph taken from the SEFRAK registration of 1974, photographer Unni Broe.