Kjerringøy

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Kjerringøy is a City in Norway

Kjerringøy is a small coastal community north of Bodø, in Nordland in northern Norway, reached by road and a short ferry across the fjord. Its fame rests on its old trading post. Kjerringøy handelssted is one of the best-preserved nineteenth-century trading stations in the country, a cluster of some fifteen historic timber buildings kept much as they were when the place was a hub of the Nordland fish trade, and it now stands as a living museum. In its heyday the merchant family here grew wealthy dealing with the fishermen of the coast, and the grand main house, boathouses, bakery and stores still evoke that vanished world. The setting is extraordinary, with white sand beaches, still fjord water and a wall of jagged peaks rising straight from the sea. Little wonder film-makers and painters have long been drawn here. Kjerringøy lies just north of the Arctic Circle at around 67°N, well inside the auroral zone, and away from any real light pollution its dark autumn and winter skies make the trading post and its mountains a memorable foreground for the northern lights.