Thursday, June 5, 2014

Gaupne, Norway

Another part of the Norway series of posts.

Asborg and Palmer live in Gaupne, which is near Leirdal. Just upstream of the farm is the new glacial lake Turnsbergdalsvatn. That drains into the Jostedøla river, which is the deep gorge just east of Leirdal. That river flows down the gorge and to tip of Gaupnefjord, one of Norway's beautiful fjords.
They made a wonderful lunch!
Gaupne is a small town where the Jostedøla river empties into Gaupnefjord. That is a branch of Lustrafjord, which in turn is a branch of Sognefjord, Norway's largest fjord. From Gaupne there are ferries to other towns along the Sognefjord, and even to Bergen.

Their home is very pretty, tucked up along the steep cliffs of the gorge. There are waterfalls coming down the cliffs in their back yard.



In Gaupne is the Old Gaupne Church, built in the mid 1600's. Buried here are many of the Norwegian relatives of grandma Ruth Larson. Their surnames here in Luster, Norway is Lierdal, not Larson. The name Larson literally means "Son of Lars", which is a first name. In this case, Lars Erickson, who was Christen's father. And since they were from Leirdal, that is sort of the family name.

We went down to the old church to check out the grave markers there.


The grave marker of my Grandmother's Grandparents. Their son, Christen, was the one who moved to Minnesota as a young man.

A bit of trivia. Asborg and Palmer told me that this house is where the ancestors of singer Jackson Browne are from.

3 comments:

  1. Enjoyed these photos, especially the cemetery and history there. And that Jackson Browne tidbit was icing on the cake.

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  2. It all looks so pretty and prosperous. Hard to believe that poverty drove so many to leave, once upon a time.

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  3. Is it so amazing to find this posting! Palmer Kjervik is my cousin. I visited this place in 1991. Palmer's grandfather and my grandmother were first cousins. My Grandma's parents moved from here to NE Iowa around 1917. Palmer's grandfather stayed behind. Palmer and Asborg are wonderful hosts and historians of this beautiful area.

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