Berg
Sub-farms: Hagin, Stangstuen, Gravadalen, Lushattstølen,
Bergaslette, Bergseng, Ringsrud and Bergtun
Berg is one of the oldest farms in Etnedal. Historians believe
that settlement could have started here as early as 400-500
AD. In 1349 the "Black Death" found its way to Berg
and the farm was wiped out. It appears that there wasn't a
settlement again until the end of the 1600s. Up until the
17th century the farm was part of Fjell, but later became
its own farm.
Then in the 1780's there were four Berg Farms: Nørre
Øvre-Berg, Sørre Øvre-Berg, Midt-Berg
and Nord Berg. The first settler was Engebret Berg. He had
children Ole born 1692, Maren 1697, Berte born 1702 and Torsten
born 1704.
One owner, Svein Pederson Berg, was a very industrious man
and in the 1860s built a skyss-stasjon, or coaching
inn* as it is called in English. He called this place Gravadalen
Skyss-stasjon, because it was built on the sub-farm called
Gravdalen. Today this area is known as Tonsåsen.
Later on Svein started building a Sanatorium, or health center,
at the same place. In its hey-day there were eleven buildings
connected to the sanatorium and traffic was quite high. It
was therefore no wonder that the decision was made to build
a train station at Tonåsen when they built the railway
from Oslo to Fagernes in the late 1800s. This then became
known as the Tonåsen train station.
Svein Pederson needed a large labor force for his construction
projects and for servicing the guests at the Sanatorium and
therefore turned to his cousins who were living on the Granum
farm. After a few years of prosperity, the economy turned
sour and Svein was forced to sell. It was at this time, in
the 1880s, that the Siewers family took over.
* Coaching Inn (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaching_inn)
In Europe, from approximately the mid-seventeenth century
for a period of about 200 years, the coaching inn, sometimes
called a staging inn, was a vital part of the inland transport
infrastructure. Although many survive, and some still offer
overnight accommodation, in general they have lost their original
function and now fulfill much the same function as ordinary
pubs.
Coaching inns stabled teams of horses for stagecoaches and
mail coaches and replaced tired teams with fresh teams. Traditionally
they were seven miles apart but this depended very much on
the terrain. Some English towns had as many as ten such inns
and rivalry between them was intense, not only for the income
from the stagecoach operators but for the revenue for food
and drink supplied to the wealthy passengers. Barnet, Hertfordshire
was one such location and even today boasts an unusually high
number of historic pubs along its high street due to its former
position on the main road from London to the North of England.
Source: Gard og Bygde i Etnedal Book C, page 174
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