Tollerodden

The name was spelt Tolderodden (with «ld») until 1917 when Norway had its second modernization of the languish replacing Danish words and spelling closer to Norwegian dialects.

The Customs account 1670-71 shows that a building was built, and it became so expensive that it was sold to the officer for a reduced price.

In 1794, the building and large property owned by the Customs, was bought by a wealthy ship owner and merchant Hans Falkenberg.

This was destroyed many times by storms, so it was early decided to make a solid breakwater of stones.

There were a small shipyard on town side of Tollerodden, just west of where Colin Archer later had his yard.

In 1826 they bought the Customs/shipowner house which property still included the whole west part of Tollerodden with shoreline from the town side and all around to the southeast.

The older Archer brothers, although born in Scotland and some teenagers when emigrated, loved Tollerodden, Larvik and Norway.

After some years near Sidney, the brothers started exploiting areas further north to find better farming land.

They called the place Eidsvold (spelt the old way with «ld») named after the town where the Norwegian Constitution was formed and signed in 1814.

In 1851 Colin's father found a ship bound for America and sent him off to join his elder brothers in Australia.

After meeting a brother in California and one in Hawaii, he ended up in Australia after two years travel and adventure.

[11] At first, the larger boats were built outdoor, but in 1872 he had a shed set up at the town side of Tollerodden.

After he had built his first small boats, he employed boatbuilders work and became a professional naval architect.

Having the good income from abroad, this allowed him to build boats without a customer and he introduced the latest international knowledge to his designs.

Colin might have thought it would be an easy match to get into the pilot boat marked, but conservatism in the workboats industry was hard to persuade.

So, already in 1873, he decided to go for larger ships and bought a part in a yard further out in the Larvik fjord at Rekkevik, called «Laurvig Strandværft».

In 1877 he published his «Wave-form Theory» for boat and ship design in The Field and had it read for the English Institution of Naval Architects.

By questioning this with what many regarded more logic and adopted, Colin Archer became world famous long before he had taken the most important steps in improving the Norwegian pilot boats.

In 1892 he built the polar ship FRAM that became world famous for its voyages close to both north and south pole.

Tollerodden became a popular public area, especially the pond on the south side suited for kids to learn to swim.

It ended up as social lodgings with poor maintenance and vandalism and in the early 1990s the municipality wanted to demolish the house.