Norsminde Kro throughout history
The history of the Inn and Norsminde
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REMARKABLE FOR THE BEAUTY OF ITS SCENERYKysing and Norsminde are situated very beautifully at the seaside, the inlet, and the brook. The area is appreciated - not only by the local people, but also by a big number of holidaymakers, bathers, anglers, people arriving by their yachts and visitors from the summerhouses – all kinds of tourists! As early as in the Early Stone Age people arrived here. Hardly because of the idyllic nature, but mainly because of the fact that the varied landscape, which – at that time also included dense forests – had an attractive rich fauna. Traces from human activities have been found in the area - both from the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Viking Age. The meaning of the place name ’Norsminde’ simply refers to the mouth of the inlet, because an inlet with a narrow entrance as the one at Kysing is called a ‘nor’ (in the very old Danish language). The place name ’Kysing’ contains two syllables, namely the prefix of the Old Norse "Kjos" (= valley) and the suffix "-ing"(= meadow - or stretch of boggy land). That is the reason why ’Kysing’ means "valley of the meadows" or "the low meadows".
 KYSING and NORSMINDEKysing was originally a narrow peninsula, which has grown broader since the 1820’s because of the reclaim of Kysing Fjord. In the past the whole area south of the inlet was called Kysing, while the area to the north was called Norsminde. The place name Norsminde is mentioned the very first time in historical sources the 16th of March 1292, when King Erik Menved gives the Chapter in Århus permission to collect duties from the ships which arrive at the port of call. At the time in the Middle Ages a bridge was built in the mouth of the inlet, and it was named Norsmindebroen. To serve the wayfarers, the travellers at that time, Norsminde Kro was built. Since 1693 the Inn has been situated at its present place – giving name to the surroundings, so that both the harbour and the local area are called Norsminde even today. Even the locals disagree in the fact where ’Kysing’ begins, and where ‘Norsminde’ stops.
 NORSMINDE KRO (INN)In keeping with tradition Kysing Church was situated just opposite Norsminde Kro. As early as in the 16th century the church was given in, and most of the church was destroyed during the War with Sweden from 1657 to 1659. In the middle of the century before last of course there was not much left of the church, and then the owner of the inn Hans Sørensen Alrøe was very worried. He was a good patriot who had participated – honourably - in the Three Years’ War 1848-51, and he knew how to prevent the peasants from collecting the last stones to use them as building materials for their own houses: He placed a bust of the Danish King at that time, Frederik the 7th at the top of the remains of the church. With all respect to the King the last stones of the former church was left in peace. In the year 1793 all the farms – except two – burned down in the village of Kysing. During the reconstruction the destroyed farms became outlying farms, and the land was replaced with new areas. In 1825 a school was built in Kysing. The first teacher Rasmus Brygger Nielsen was an earlier convict who in 1818 had been sentenced to death because of forgery of |
banknotes. He had – with brilliant capability – drawn some 5 rix-dollar notes, but unfortunately not capable enough! The penalty was negotiated – and reduced to prison for life, but in 1825 he was released on parole: The rest of his life he had to carry an iron chain around his wrist, and he was forbidden to leave Kysing!
NORSMINDE THROUGH 200 YEARSAbout the middle of the year 1800 Norsminde developed into an important harbour. From immemorial it had been a place of disembarkation for cereals, cattle, tiles, bricks, and timber. In the year 1854 a grocer from the nearby big town of Århus Hans Broge built a warehouse at the harbour, and an extensive grocery started. The fishing made progress, and Swedish skippers sailed to Norsminde for buying fish. There was a permanent ferry service to the island of Tunø, and the boat sailing between Århus and Kalundborg often called at the harbour in Norsminde, where the navigation conditions in bad weather was better than the ones at the harbour in Århus. In the year 1884 the great period of Norsminde had gone. That year Hads-Ning Herreders Jernbane (a new railway connecting the two districts of Hads and Ning) opened up, and from one day to another the trade with the surrounding towns along the railway disappeared. Warehouse and grocery closed down, and in 1888 Norsminde Kro had to close down, too. About the turn of the century the ideas of the beneficial effect of light, fresh air, and bathing in the sea started to spread. In the nearby town called Saksild a seaside hotel was built in 1906, it was a so called hydro. Gradually much more welfare, leisure, and holidays gave a bigger part of the population possibilities to go in for the pleasures of life at sea and beach, and therefore Kysing and Norsminde also were involved in the increasing tourism. In 1932 Norsminde Kro was given the possibility to re-open.
 The then owner of the inn, Hans Waldemar Alrøe, created a lot of attention in connection with the inn through his eccentric ideas. He was known throughout the country for laying out the biggest collection of elephants in Denmark, and the elephants are still the trade mark of Norsminde Kro. He also invented a rotatory pot plant stand, so that his begonias could get sunshine on all sides. From he was 19 years old he grew a beard. The flowing, white beard (in Denmark known as ’Stauning-beard because of the appearance of the former Danish prime minister Mr. Stauning) became a well known attraction, and when the beard celebrated its 50 year’s anniversary, he put up a monument in the garden of the inn in memory of the event.  Today Norsminde Kro is a popular resort and recreational area for everybody: the inhabitants of the neighbourhood as well as the many tourists visiting the area. Many people connect Norsminde Kro with fried eels, but – in addition to this - the Inn is able to present a very interesting and varied menu containing something for everybody’s taste. |