[3] The earliest written confirmation of human settlement on Halten is from 1548, and it shows a payment of a charge for access to the islands.

Tobias Ulrik Borthen was responsible for most of the expansion and upgrading of the village of Halten, from 1868 and up until World War I. Tobias Borthen built a dock and a big Trønderlån (Skanklåna) which housed the local store and management and contained a radio station which was an important part of Haltens contact with the environmental society.

The decline in activity on Halten started when fishing vessels got more and more modernised and had cabins which eliminated the need for housing for the visiting fishermen.

The houses on Halten all have special names like: Vestindien, Banken, Høiskolen, Telemonhei, Minde, Klasbua, Sykehuset, Tempelet, Svana, Havna, Ostindien, Bakklund, Britania and many more.

The third Saturday of July each year is "Haltenday", when rømmegraut is served in Fiskarheimen (the old local community house) during the day and there is a folk dance in an old loft down on the dockhouse at night.