Iceland review - 2016, Page 51

ICELAND REVIEW 49
reserved for government business, now
a dining room. “Imagine all the ideas
that were thought up here,” he says with
awe. Known for their generosity and for
hosting fancy dinners, the Stephensens
dominated Viðey for four generations.
In their time, a printing house was also
operated on the island.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
In the early 20th century, entrepreneur
Eggert Briem ran a large-scale dairy farm
on Viðey, selling the milk in a store in
Reykjavík. The operation required quite a
few farmhands. Þórir points out hillocks,
peculiarly-named Kvennagönguhólar
(‘Women’s Hiking Hills’). “During hay-
making, Gunna might have said to Jón—
because she fancied him—that it would
be a beautiful night. She intended to
walk over to the hills after work and he
was welcome to join her. And—because
Jón fancied Gunna—he went to meet
her there. In confirmation of my theo-
ry, there’s a small cave by the hills, just
big enough for two people to squeeze
tightly together. And it’s called Paradís
[‘Paradise’].”
In 1909, the so-called Milljónafélagið
corporation bought Viðey with ambi-
tious plans for farming and fishing. Two
large piers and industrial buildings were
constructed on the island’s eastern side,
connected by rail. Some 20 houses were
built for the employees. Danish compa-
nies used the island as a trans-shipment
port and for storing coal and oil; from
there, oil was sent in barrels to Reykjavík.
Milljónafélagið went bankrupt in 1914
and in the early 1920s, Kárafélagið took
over, operating trawlers from the island
and processing fish in the village—
inhabitants numbered around 100 in its
heyday. Electricity was produced by a
motor generator, water supplied from
a tank, and a schoolhouse was built in
1928. But then the Great Depression
hit and, in 1931, Kárafélagið went out
of business. All the buildings, apart from
the schoolhouse (where old photographs
from Viðey are now exhibited), were
moved to the mainland. By 1943, the
village had been abandoned.
H I S T O R Y
THE VILLAGE’S LAST YEARS
The now 88-year-old Ragnhildur
Bergþórsdóttir moved to Viðey with
her family in 1928, when she was
three months old. “My dad, Bergþór
Magnússon, was the last person to leave
Stöðin [‘The Station’], as we called the
village. He was a farmer—the village’s
only farmer—with six cows and a large
flock of hens.” The other inhabitants kept
animals for self-sufficiency. Ragnhildur,
or her siblings, brought the milk and
eggs to the larger farm at the center of
the island, Viðeyjarbúið, simply called
Búið. From there, the milk was sent daily
with the farm’s boat to Reykjavík. On
days when eggs had to be delivered, the
children were given a ride with the boat.
“It was the most embarrassing thing I
knew, carrying the boxes of eggs to the
store. I thought it was so provincial.”
In exchange, they brought goods, like
coffee, back to the island. They also had
some sheep and a patch with potatoes,
yellow turnips and rhubarb, and occa-
sionally caught fish.
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Viðey village around 1910. Wagons are being pulled by rails to the pier. View of Geldinganes and Esja mountain on the mainland.