Just northeast of Ulvøysund is the entrance to the Blindleia inland waterway which leads towards the town of Lillesand.

The nearby village of Ribe lies about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) straight north of Ulvøysund.

The village was historically used as an outport along the Skaggerak coast for the large ships that couldn't navigate inland through the archipelago to the towns on the mainland.

It was archaeologically investigated in 2011 by the Norwegian Maritime Museum, and a piece of a reindeer antler from the finding was later Carbon-14 dated to the period between the years 1020-1030.

During the 14th century a bishop from Bergen wrote a letter (that still exists today) saying that he was stuck in Ulvøysund due to the weather.