Det var en gang...

...eit travelt lite bygdesamfunn, med eiga kommuneleiing, små verksemder og dyktige handverkarar, ein yndlingsplass for engelske lordar som visste å setja pris på det ypperlege laksefisket i elva Vosso. I dag er Evanger ei stille, lita bygd i Voss kommune i Vestland fylke, plassert der Vosso møter Evangervatnet, rundt 20 kilometer vest for kommunesenteret  Vossevangen.

E16, ein av hovudvegane mellom Bergen og Oslo, passerar utanfor sentrum. Bergensbanen, går òg forbi bygda, og alle lokaltoga Bergen-Voss stopper på Evanger stasjon, whilst the Oslo-Bergen express train stops in Voss, and you need to transfer to the next local train.

The village used to be the administrative centre of the old municipality of Evanger, which existed from 1885 until 1964. Evanger Church (Evanger kyrkje) is located in the village centre. In the village there is a sausage factory, a fine carpentry workshop and other small industries, a school and a kindergarten, and an excellent grocery store with a wide selection of beers and local produce, as well as basic day-to-day supplies.

The Evanger Hydroelectric Power Station (Evanger kraftverk) is situated 1,500 metres inside the mountain just on the edge of the village. The power station started production in 1969, was modified in 1977, and has been undergoing new upgrades since 2016. The original construction activity, lasting twenty years, reached its peak around 1965 when the construction crew totalled approximately 500 men.

A total of 45,000 cubic metres of rock were excavated to create space for the installations. The machine hall inside the power station is enormous, with a monumental wall-mounted sculptural relief, by Reidar Johan Berle (1969), on one wall, the largest ornamentation of any Norwegian power station to date.

It is the tenth largest power station in Norway, is equipped with three Pelton turbines, and produces approximately 1.3 billion kilowatt hours annually. This is equivalent to the electricity consumption of 65,000 households.

The power station is supplied with water through a 34.3-kilometre long tunnel from the intake reservoirs, Askjelldalsvatnet and other lakes, high in the mountains north of Evanger and above the Eksingedalen and Teigdalen valleys. The tunnel has a vertical drop of 770 metres.

Evanger kraftverk

The Evanger Hydroelectric Power Station (Evanger kraftverk) is situated 1,500 metres inside the mountain behind the grocery store. The power station started production in 1969, was modified in 1977, and has been undergoing new upgrades since 2016. The original construction activity, lasting twenty years, reached its peak around 1965 when the construction crew totalled approximately 500 men.

Evanger kraftverk is the tenth largest power station in Norway and is equipped with three Pelton turbines. It produces approximately 1.3 billion kilowatt hours annually - equivalent to the electricity consumption of 65,000 households.

The turbines are supplied with water through a 34.3-kilometre long tunnel from Askjelldalsvatnet and other lakes and reservoirs, high in the mountains north of Evanger and above the Eksingedalen and Teigdalen valleys. The tunnel has a vertical drop of 770 metres.45,000 cubic metres of rock were excavated to create space for the power station.

The machine hall inside the mountain is enormous, with a monumental wall-mounted sculptural relief, by Reidar Johan Berle (1969), on one wall, the largest ornamentation of any Norwegian power station to date. Unfortunately, the power station is no longer open to visitors!

Knute Nelson, U.S. senator born in Evanger.

Knute was born in 1842 on a mountain farm at Kvilekvål in Evanger. His mother, Ingebjørg, was unmarried and had to provide for the boy on her own. When he was only six years old, she borrowed money and took her son with her to America. 

Knute, who later took the name Nelson, acquired an education as lawyer, and practiced law in addition to his farming activities. He was elected governor of Minnesota in 1892, and senator in 1895, as the first Scandinavian. He was later re-elected time after time and sat in the Senate in Washington for 28 years. He was involved in law-making processes, and was for many years chairman of the law committee in Congress.

Outside the congress building in St. Paul, Minnesota a large monument has been erected to Knute Nelson, and in Evanger, between the church and the old town hall, a monument has similarly been erected in memory . Knute Nelson never lost his interest in his native country and visited Evanger twice in later life. 

Knute Nelson, the little boy who was born in poverty in Evanger and emigrated with his mother, and eventually became a legislator and senator in America, stands as a symbol of the struggle and fate of some of the poor who emigrated from Norway in the 19th century.

The following articles contain a wealth of information about Knute Nelson and Kvilekvål:

MNopedia   Wikipedia   History Magazine    The gate to the landscape, UiB

After we moved into Rongahuset in 2017, it took a long time to get everything in order! In fact, I don't think we will ever finish...  

In 2017, we already had three guest rooms available, plus a shared dorm on the ground floor, and we had a lot of happy guests. It is amazing to think back to that first summer. I had five small children - and we had one bathroom available that had to serve the family as well as the guests in the three rooms! 

We waited until 2018 to reopen the café, and were finally ready in June, just in time for the annual EvangerLaurdag event. The then Mayor of Voss, Hans-Erik Ringkjøb, came to cut the ribbon and declare the café open, after local musician Vemund Styve played a fanfare on the flugelhorn to bring everyone together. 

My son Benjamin - now the lead singer of tundra rock band SLOMOSA - played on the stage throughout the day.

It was a chaotic, but happy and optimistic time in the history of Rongahuset! Thankfully, we now have several bathrooms and much better use of space, but we try to keep the spirit of family life, optimism and hospitality.