Kjerringoy Trading Post

Nineteenth Century Merchant Trading Post Kept As An Open Air Museum, The Setting Of Knut Hamsun Novels, Under The Kjerringoy Peaks · Bodo, Nordland

Kjerringoy Trading Post, Kjerringoy handelssted, is a nineteenth-century merchant station on a green peninsula about 40 km north of Bodo, set between white-sand bays and a wall of jagged mountains. In its heyday under the Zahl family it was one of the richest trading posts in northern Norway, buying fish from the Lofoten fisheries and selling goods to the whole district. Today about fifteen original buildings - the main house, the shop, warehouses on the shore, a bakery and workers' houses - are kept as an open-air museum, run as part of a regional museum. It is also Hamsun country: the young Knut Hamsun knew the merchant Erasmus Zahl, and the trading world of his novels Benoni and Rosa is often said to draw on Kjerringoy. People come for guided tours of the rooms, the beaches and the drive with a short ferry. The honest caveat: it is a small place, most rewarding in the summer season, and best seen as a lovely half day from Bodo rather than a destination on its own.

Kjerringoy, about 40 km north of Bodo on road 834, with a short ferry crossing (Festvag-Misten), Bodo, Nordland, Norway

Seasonal. The museum buildings open with guided tours roughly from June to August, usually daily from late morning to late afternoon - confirm current dates and times; outside the season the grounds and beaches can be walked freely but the interiors are closed. From Bodo drive north on road 834, take the short Festvag-Misten car ferry (about 10 minutes) and continue to Kjerringoy, roughly an hour in total. Buses are limited and may not match the ferry in every season - check Entur. No advance booking is usually needed except for groups.

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