Herdísarvík () is a small bay and abandoned farm by the same name at the south coast of

Reykjanes Reykjanes () is a small headland on the south-western end of the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland, giving the main peninsula its name. Volcanic action is responsible for forming the entire peninsula. The nearest town is Keflavik. The name, , trans ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

Name

The name means "bay of Herdís", a common Icelandic women's name, in this case the name of a folk tale figure from the region (see: Stóra-Eldborg).

Location and access

The small bay Herdísarvík ( Gullbringusýsla) with the remains of the farm and the former house of

Einar Benediktsson Einar Benediktsson, often referred to as Einar Ben (31 October 1864 – 12 January 1940) was an Icelandic poet and lawyer. Einar Benediktsson's poetry was a significant contribution to the nationalistic revival which led to Iceland's independenc ...

is situated actually at the foot of ''Herdísarvíkurfjall'' . The lava covering the land, ''Herdísarvíkurhraun'' (actually 3 lava flows, partially covering each other), came down from this volcanic mountain in the form of

lava fall Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or unde ...

s. They had their origin in different craters of the

Brennisteinsfjöll Brennisteinsfjöll (, "Sulfur mountains"
Brennisteinsfjöll. Detailed description. In: Catalogue of Icelandic Volcano ...

volcanic system. Today, there is Route 427 (Iceland), Route 427 passing by at a small distance, but the area was for a long time very remote. Access was only possible on foot, on horseback or by small boats, the lava building a.o. reefs in the water.

History

This remote place has nevertheless an interesting history.

Winter fishing

From the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

on, many Icelanders went to the coasts in the wintertime to go fishing. This was also done at the Reykjanes coast, where till around 1925, fishermen went out in rowing boats from different places at the south coast of Reykjanes to get

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

. Herdísarvík had a very good landing for small boats. This was used in special weathers even by people from Þórlákshöfn og ''Selvogur'' around ''Strandarkirkja'' for the transport of goods for the farms in the region. And around 1900, even some new constructions were erected for winter fishing. This was practiced with rowing boats from there even till the 1920s. The remains of the huts and small walls for fish drying can still be seen around Herdísarvík today.

Rich farm

For some centuries, the farm at this place even had a reputation for being rather rich. There was good land down by the sea, but also up in the mountains for sheep pasture. And the farm was situated at the coast, which meant additional income from hunting of seabirds and seals, fishing, also trout angling in the nearby small lake (today a lagoon), and last but not least big quantities of drift wood, very precious in a land more or less without its own forests.

Einar Benediktsson and Hlín Johnson in Herdísarvík

It had been for some years in his possession and used by a tenant, when the rich entrepreneur, politician and literate

(1864-1940) arrived in 1932 to live here for the last years of his life. He was getting old and preferred the stillness and remoteness of this place to the stressful life in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

or bigger cities in other parts of the world which he had had the possibility to get to know. Also, he was not alone, but had his common wife ''Hlín Johnson (Jónsdóttir)'' with him, who looked after him, and both were very hospitable. The people from

Selvogur Strandarkirkja () is a Lutheranism, Lutheran (Church of Iceland) parish church in Selvogur , on the southern coast of Iceland. The church is a landmark for travellers at sea. It has more supporters all over the world than any other church in Icela ...

came often to the area to make hay or get ice in the winter. There was not a phone connection until 1945, neither a road before 1948. So all messages had to be transmitted personally and a steady stream of visitors was to be expected, esp. because Einar Benediktsson was a very well known author and also an early promoter of the installation of power stations and heavy industry in Iceland. In this, his grandson, Bjarni Benediktsson (born 1970), today Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs of Iceland is following his lead. The 12 January 1940, Einar Benediktsson died in Herdísarvík, but Hlín lived there till in 1958 (she died in 1965). She was also good in running the farm and as a businesswoman, selling ice from the small lake, which she stocked in the wintertime in a hut, to fishermen from Iceland and the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

. The farm of Krýsuvík which was also in the possession of Einar Benediktsson, was for some time without a tenant and had to be managed from Herdísarvík. Hlín let construct a road against the lava field Ögmundarhraun for transport of sheep and hay to

Grindavík Grindavík () is a fishing town in the Southern Peninsula district of Iceland, not far from Þorbjörn, a tuya (a type of flat-topped, steep-sided volcano). It is one of the few towns with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work ...

University of Iceland

Today, the land is owned by the

Háskóli Íslands The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern com ...

(University of Iceland), which received it as a donation from Einar Benediktsson.Þór Vigfússon: Í Árnesþingi vestanverðu. Ferðafélag Íslands Árbók 2003. Reykjavík 2003, p. 51

References

{{coord, 63, 52, 05, N, 21, 49, 20, W, display=title, region:IS Bays of Iceland Farms in Iceland Historic sites in Iceland Southern Peninsula (Iceland)