The narrow Lonevaagen originates
from Osterfjorden. Lonevaagen is
a typical fjord being 500 m wide
and 5 km in length. At the end of
the fjord is Lonevaag which is the
largest village on the island and a
center for the economic activity.
After combining several of the
surrounding counties in 1964, it
was decided to move the
administration for the new county
to Lonevaag. It was also decided
to build a new administration
building and middle school.
The middle school was inaugurated in the fall of 1969, and in 1978 the new administration building was opened thus putting the whole administration under the same roof. Since then, a police station, nursing home, and Osteroey Athletic Complex consisting of a soccer field, facilities for track and field, and not least a club house. There have been and still are many concentrations of shops in Lonevaag. In October 1999, Osteroey nursing home was opened (at the right side on the picture). Here are many shops concentrated, selling everything from groceries, shoes, books, and health food products. In the center of the
village there is also a marina (see
picture). However, in the old days
Lonevaag was situated away from its
present location. It was located
where the river ("Loneelva") exits.
To day this is a desolate area, but
back then it saw a lot of activity.
Except for some farmers at the
hamlet of Hauge, all the farmers at
Gjerstad, East and West hamlets built
boathouses here. That the activities
were centered at "Hetlandsvaagen"
further down from "Vaagen", could have several reasons. One reason may be that the river was too shallow and larger vessels were forced to use the boat landing at "Hetland Vaagen". When the steam boats started arriving in the middle of the 1850's, Lonevaagen was permanently abandoned and "Hetlandsvaagen" became "Vaagen" which now has changed its name to "Lonevaag". Today large labor-intensive industries are located in the Lonevaag area. Among these are "BNR", "Andr. Jakobsen Industry", and "Borge Kromlaerfabrikk". There are also a number of smaller size industries located here.
