Trading Post at Baer in Lón

Baer in Lón

The photograph above left was taken of the family living at Midhus in Baer around 1920. The farming couple are sitting on the far left" the front row, with their children standing in the row behind. To the right of the wife are her mother, her son from an earlier relationship, and her son's wife, dressed in traditional Icelandic costume. Most people's living quarters used to be small, considering the numbers/living there. However, this varied, as shown by the following description from those times:

Judged by conditions back then, the Midhus home was fairly  spacious. In fact, the local school children were taught there during most winters, and  on many evenings children and teenagers from the surrounding Baer households would gather there to enjoy themselves.. The entertainment would often take the form of dancing, with a neighbour playing the accordion. Looking on from the door of the living room, the lady of the house would tap her feet in time while her husband smiled from ear to ear.

The estate of Baer was often home to several households, peaking at a, total of seven: Vesturbaer, Midhus, Austurbaer, Nedribaer, Frambaer, Brekka and Uttun. There is one large, continuous expanse of pasture named Baejarteigar, but little grazing area close to the farms, in the mid-19th century, over 60 people lived at Baer and at the more recent additional farmstead of Karlsfell. Whereas in 1920 the Baer estate still had six tenants and in all 51 occupants, permanent residence was abandoned in 1966, although the farm is now the site of some vacation cottages. This picnic spot where you are now located by Ring Road 1 lies inland from where the Baer farmstead stood, across from Reydara farm, and features  a memorial to Ulfljotur, erected by the Austur-Skaftafell County Council, and a viewpoint indicator for surveying his home district of Lón