Christian Borhavens home in Grimstad, Brevik House
PetaAnnMy great grandfather Christian Borhaven worked as a captain in the Norwegian navy and lived in Grimstad in a house called Brevik House. I am returning to Grimstad and was wondering if anyone knows of it? It is north of Grimstad around the headland, it is a two storey house on the water front. I have old photos I can send. Alsand house is another family home that was located in Grimstad it is now rumoured to be a museum? My family left Norway around 1925 for Australia and I am now trying to put the pieces back together. Many Thanks Peta
jwiborgHi, I'm not aware of any museum at Alsand, but there is a historical sign there, a so-called ballast sign. The ballast sign at Alsand is a memorial to a bygone period. A lot of ships left the area with e.g. woodwork (headed for Europe & Africa), and in order to return properly, they had to fill their ballast tanks with soil. That soil was dumped upon arrival back to Grimstad, so this area have now quite an interesting flora, consisting of plants from all over the world due to the foreign soil who where dumped here... [;)] The Alsand farm is also along the tourist attraction Reddalskanalen (The Reddal channel), build 1875-80. This water vein connects the freshwater lakes Landvikvannet and Reddalsvannet with the Atlantic. There has been shipbuilding yards in the Alsand area for atleast 500 years. King Frederik II of Denmark/Norway build a huge warship named "St. Oluf" at the "Møllepynten" next to Alsand in 1570. When operative, it had a crew of 1500 people! There are several places named Breivig in the area, I believe one of them would be the Brevik house you're refering to. Possibly the one next to Marivold camping in Grimstad. [img]http://img457.imageshack.us/img457/20/image6gz.jpg[/img] //Jan Peter