“If I were a musician I would compose a Mollösund street symphony, when the wind whistles through these wonderful streets, that I love. You are a great musical epic.”  Ivar Lo Johansson


“Norlejet”, “mittlejet” and “sörlejet”

A stones-throw from the harbour lies the cobbled street appropriately called Gatan (“Street”). It runs from the old churchyard to “sörjelet”. Gatan used to be lined with shops of various kinds. The street was divided into “norlejet”, “mittlejet” and “sörlejet”. “Norlejet” was the slightly more aristocratic end, while the less well-off lived in “sörlejet”. ”Mittlejet” was the clear boundary between the two.


Shops in Gatan

Really this historical stroll begins as soon as you pass the inn called Mollösunds Wärdshus. “Norbagarn” (the northern bakery) used to be located where the garden is now. At the old churchyard you turn into Gatan. Up to the right is the road leading to the crafts museum. Once you are in Gatan the houses bear witness to the prosperity that once “norlejet” displayed. There stand the solid sea captain’s houses that were built during the glory years of herring catches. Along with the herring period, freight business grew and major investments were made in schooners, brigs and ketches.

In this part of Gatan there used to be a cobbler’s, a pork butcher’s and two general stores. Just where “norlejet” becomes “mittlejet” there was Johanssons Pensionat (boarding house). You could buy cookies there, selected from a row of glass jars. The post, bank and telegraph station changed places, and at various times were located on one side or the other of “mittlejet”.

In “sörlejet” there were a a pork butcher’s, a bakery and two general stores, of which one was affiliated to the general stores in “norlejet”. If the affiliate ran out of something, more supplies were sent from the “norlejet” store. One could not go up to “norlejet” and buy the missing items oneself. There were also a health goods shop, a milk shop and a shop where Hilda sold skorpor (rusks) and the Allers magazine. She was therefore called Skorp-Hilda or Allers-Hilda. In “sörlejet” were also a hospital and a poorhouse, now demolished. Traces of how the buildings followed the line of Gatan can still be seen. Some of the buildings are angled differently.


Roads and water

The whole road network in the Bohuslän district was of a poor standard, and as recently as 1897 documents stated that “there are no public roads to this important fishing port, despite an urgent need . . .” Most communication with the outside world was by sea. During hard winters one was in principle isolated if the ice extended far out, making sea connections more or less impossible. The water supply caused much concern in the olden days, in fact up to quite recently. Before wells, financed locally, were bored in the 1920s, salt water had to be used for both cooking potatoes and for washing.