A protected cultural monument in Eidsdal

Nelly from Severinbrauta

Nelly Veiberg, the only descendent of the people of the Severinbrauta cotter's farm, died in 1995, leaving a cultural legacy that is unique in Norway.

Nelly lived a solitary pre-industrial lifestyle at Severinbrauta right up until the 1990s. The building and its interior, particularly its textiles, are treasures of Norwegian cultural history.

It’s as if time has stood still here. The surrounding society changed dramatically in the time from 1870 to 1995. Severinbrauta provides a glimpse of how things were in days gone by – what has improved and what has been lost.

Cultural environment

At Severinbrauta, you can see:

• A log cabin with an open fire built onto a cowshed and hay barn. It is completely intact and has never been modernized.
• A cottage interior reconstructed as it was in 1960s.
• «Room full of rare items.» The Brauta women took good care of most things and we exhibit some of them.
• 6,3 decares of heritage landscape: terraced hayfields, soft fruits and fruit gardens, herbs and perennial beds and other manmade elements.

Everything was preserved

Severinbrauta was run as a subsistence farm right up until the 1980s. The women took care of everything. So its history from its establishment in the 1870s up to today is documented through everyday equipment and other objects, textiles, pictures and letters.

Countless stories can be gleaned from this rich material. These stories may be about:

• the local society
• cotter's farms and their people
• being born outside wedlock
• dreams of America
• women’s lives and the daily round
• everyday life
• frugal ways
• heritage landscape
• building traditions