Plague and politics
Vestbygda
is not a village, but rather a series of shoreline settlements in a fjord
basin. Twice, this area has been almost completely depopulated. The first
time was due to the Black Death, which laid the farms waste. Several
centuries later Vestbygda was the victim of structural changes in society.
The building of roads in the 1950s and 1960s completely changed life on
the islands. When the sea was no longer the most important route of
communication for most of the people of Vesterålen, Vestbygda soon found
itself isolated.
The main buildings and wharf at Tinden, one
of Vesterålen's best preserved and most distinctive trading centres,
taken over and operated by Skjalg Halmøy from 1937.
Skjalg
Halmøy welcomes all visitors to the traditional trading
centre at Tinden. Skjalg dies in 2002.
Sunderøy
was one of several progressive seasonal fishing villages in Vestbygda
during the latter half of the 1800's. Here Vesteraalen Steamship Company's
local steamer calls at the village sometime towards the turn of the 20th
century.