North Norway or America
North Norway or America. This was often the choice that landless people from the south of Norway had to make during the 1800's, when poverty and hunger forced them to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Those who didn't manage to raise the capital needed to travel to America often chose to migrate to North Norway. In Vesterålen, there was plenty of fish and herring in the sea, as well as lots of "available" land which could be cultivated. Osvolldalen, between the Sortland Sound and Sørfjord on the island of Hinnøy, was just such an area, a place where settlers from Gudbrandsdalen came to live.
Many of the settlers who came to
Osvolldalen travelled on from here to America. Letters and pictures like
this one came from the great land "over there" on the other side
of the ocean, inspiring those at home with the dream of a better life.
