Photo: Peter Fiskerstrand·CC BY-SA 4.0· Wikimedia Commons
Islands / Tønsberg / Torgersøya
A small island of 0.3 km² in the outer Oslofjord, inhabited from the 1700s until the early 1900s. The lighthouse station dates from 1851 and closed in 1983, leaving a protected bell tower; there are also around 15 cabins and floating docks. Civitan Club Tønsberg runs a campsite with boat transport in summer, and sheep graze to keep the vegetation down.
From the water you see a low wooded ridge with a white lighthouse building and a small bell tower at the highest point. Cabins stand among the smooth rock around it, and the floating docks are on the northwest side. Sheep in the heather keep the vegetation down and are part of the picture here. The bell tower at the highest point is a protected monument.
Boat shuttle from the mainland via the campsite in summer / own boat.
Boats do run here, but the quay is not in Entur’s system — usually a summer service or a private crossing that never enters the national journey planner. Check with the operator before you build a day around it.
Torgersøya covers 0.3 km² in the outer Oslofjord, in the southeast of Tønsberg municipality. People lived here permanently from the 1700s until the early 1900s.
The lighthouse station was established in 1851. In 1890 the original apparatus was replaced by a lamp, and in 1910 a fog bell was added to warn ships in poor visibility. The station stayed in service until it closed in 1983. The bell tower is still standing and is protected as a cultural monument.
The island lies near Vallø, where the oil refinery was painted in camouflage during the Second World War to hide the plant from aircraft, a detail that says how exposed these waters were in the war.
Torgersøya is a cabin island, with around 15 cabins and floating docks on the northwest side. Civitan Club Tønsberg runs a campsite in summer with a boat shuttle from the mainland. Sheep graze to hold back the scrub; about 40 animals were on the island in 2008. Otherwise it is low, rocky and easy to reach from the water.
The easiest landing is at the floating docks on the northwest side, or by your own boat. In summer Civitan Club Tønsberg runs a campsite with organised boat transport from the mainland; contact the club to arrange transport and camping. The protected bell tower is a cultural monument, so look but do not touch or climb it. No nesting-season restrictions are registered on the island itself, but keep a courteous distance from the grazing animals and the cabin owners. Read the local signs before landing at private docks.
The light was put out in 1983 after 132 years in service, and the bell tower was left standing. It is protected now, a small white reminder of the time when every sound had its own light.
The sheep are doing a job. Without grazing animals, these rocky islands close up with scrub within a few decades. The 40 animals here in 2008 kept the ground open where no mower can reach.
A service club rather than the public sector keeps the island open to everyone in summer: Civitan Club Tønsberg runs the campsite and the boat shuttle.
Oslo Sea Experience passes Torgersøya on its private fjord trips from Tjuvholmen.
The Norwegian version notes which facts were taken from each source: Torgersøya på norsk.