The first time we hear of this hostelry place is in 1646. Bergen traders with foreign names like Hunnechen and Cramer have been owners, and between 1745 and 1780 Bruknappen was owned by a group of officers. This is probably associated with the fact that the training ground for this part of Nordhordland was at Lygra. The buildings at Bruknappen burned down around 1870, and a new main building was erected soon afterwards, probably in the same style as the last, with a half-hipped roof and flat dormer, and windows in empire style. Formerly there was a bakery at the back of the main house, and a short distance away there is a potato store and a barn that belongs to the farm. Under the protection plan for old hostelry places, Bruknappen was restored in the early 1970s, but the main building burned down again in 1978, and was again rebuilt. The exterior of the new building is a copy of the old one, well suited as a guesthouse. Today the hostelry place at Bruknappen may be rented for seminars and lodging – a modern-day version of the old hostelry tradition. In the narrow passages in Radsundet, we experience the sea route in its literal meaning. Here lies Bruknappen still as a stopping point in the larger pattern of hostelries along the shipping lane.
Bruknappen
The hostelry place in Bruknappen is situated north in Radsundet, just south of Festo, by a sheltered idyllic bay, close to the main lane. Sloops both from Sognefjorden and Nordland had their fixed stops at “the blacksmith in Bruknappen”; on their way to Bergen, fully loaded with wood and hazel hoops, barrels and chests, or on their way home with town merchandise.
I Hunnechen si tid gjekk det føre seg ei dramatisk hending ved Bruknappen. Eit tingvitne på tinget i Kvamsvågen 13. mai 1721 fortel om det. Ei nordfjordjekt var komen inn på hamna i Bruknappen. Utanom jektefolka var det ein sersjant og nokre soldatar med fartøyet. Som vitne fortalde Abel Feste at ein av jektefolka var komen til han og bad om hjelp til å sokna etter ein soldat som var komen bort. Første dagen etter fann dei soldaten ved Bruknappen på 14 famnars djup. Han hadde eit djupt hogg i den eine armen.