Totenlag
Where is Toten?
The Toten area of Norway is located about 55 miles or 88 Km north of Oslo. However, if one is going by car, plan on a two hour drive. Pushing a cart over the mountains might have taken our ancestors several weeks.
Toten administrative district is composed of 3 kommuner:
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Gjøvik - central town is Gjøvik
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Østre Toten - central town is Lena
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Vestre Toten - central town is Raufoss
Totenlag represents the entire are covered by the Toten administrative district.
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Toten was in Oppland Fylke. A flyke is a larger administrative unit with functions of both a county and a state.
There were some changes to the fylkes in 2020. Now Oppland is part of the new Innlandet fylke.
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See the new fylke map on this Norwegian government page.
What is Toten like?
Toten is in the eastern, or flatter part of Norway. It has a lot of farm land and higher up on the low mountains (1500 meters) much timber is grown and harvested. Toten's climate is much like southern Minnesota. Rainfall is less than on the west coast of Norway.
Viking roots go back about 4000 years and there may even have been people living there soon after the glacier melted. The Pilgrim Way, a route taken by medieval pilgrims traveling from Oslo to Nideros Cathedral in Trondheim where St. Olav's remains were preserved, goes through Østre Toten past the Balke Church and to Gjøvik.
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Many people speak some English. If only we spoke as much Norwegian!
