Question 1

What Skjervøy Is Known For

Accepted Answer

Skjervøy's economy is based on fishing. Two local landmarks are its 18th-century church and Seppalatunet, which tells Leonhard Seppala's story. Seppalatunet, opened in 2015, tells the story of the dog-sled driver Leonhard Seppala, who grew up in Skjervøy. Skjervøy Church, a white wooden church from 1728, is the oldest preserved wooden church in its diocese. The church's baroque altarpiece, dated 1664, came from the older church that stood before it.

Question 2

History

Accepted Answer

A church has stood at Skjervøy since at least 1589, and the present one dates from 1728. In the 1880s and 1890s it was the boyhood home of Leonhard Seppala, who later made his name driving sled dogs in Alaska. The first church, by 1589: A church at Skjervøy is first recorded in 1589. The wooden church, 1728: The missionary Thomas von Westen had the present church built in 1728 for the coastal Sami and Kven people of a parish that covered most of northern Troms. Families traveled to church on Saturdays and slept in cabins by the shore to attend the Sunday service. A tower, 1777: The church gained its tower and pulpit in 1777. Seppala's boyhood, from about 1879: Leonhard Seppala, born in Lyngen in 1877, moved to Skjervøy with his family when he was two. His father worked here as a blacksmith and fisherman. To Alaska, 1900: Seppala left for Alaska in 1900, during the Nome gold rush. The serum run, 1925: In the relay that carried diphtheria serum to Nome, Seppala and his dogs took it across the ice of Norton Sound as night fell. To learn more ashore: Seppalatunet tells Seppala's story, and the 1728 Skjervøy Church stands in the village.

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