During the summer of 1911 Knut Hamsun returned to Hamarøy where he had lived when he was between three and fourteen years old. He arrived with his new wife Marie who he had married two years earlier. They were both deeply involved in the running of the farm and they managed it together until 1917. However, Mr. Hamsun was away a lot of the time, as he preferred to write away from home, and meanwhile the management of the farm and the home was done to his wife. The first three of the couple's four children were born at Skogheim.

While Knut Hamsun lived at Skogheim he published three novels: "Children of the Age", "Segelfoss Town" and "Growth of the Soil".