Deep inside the cosy Old Eidsfos Tavern, you will find an exhibition about the widow Elise Kristensen. She was born at Eidsfoss in 1867 and lived at a time when both the country and the ironworks were undergoing major changes. Social arrangements that had previously been enshrined in the Mining Acts were being dismantled, and the new nation was seeking to organise a public welfare system. Widows and fatherless children were among these groups. Elise was married to Christen Christensen. When he died of illness in 1907, she was left alone with four young children.
Women who lost the family breadwinner risked having to move out of their flats at the works. Poverty and degradation were the fate of many. But Elise managed to get by, largely because she managed to reach an agreement with the ironworks to run the household for young, unmarried workers for a few years. Elise remained at Eidsfoss for the rest of her life; she died at the Hof care home in 1957, aged nearly 90.
Visit the exhibition ‘To Elise’ at Bråtagata 46, 3095 Eidsfoss, next to Gamle Eidsfos Kro.
The exhibition follows the tavern’s opening hours.
