Tjärö

The oldest traces of settlement on Tjärö were built around 3,000 years ago. They are huts for summer fishing and it is likely that the first fishing peasants settled here in the fifteenth century. Forty people are recorded as living on Tjärö over a short period in the nineteenth century, marking the island’s highest ever population. In the mid-1850s, Tjärö and Dragsö, in the parish of Åryd became the first islands in south-east Sweden to have quarries. When the Swedish Tourist Association started its epoch on the island in 1940, Dag Hammarskjöld discovered this paradise. The last year he spent on Tjärö was 1952 because the following year he was elected Secretary General of the UN. During his time in charge of the UN he received information on what was going on on the island. Tjärö is difficult to describe in words and simply has to be seen and experienced. If you would like to stay on Tjärö, there is a youth hostel and if you want to get out onto the water, you can hire kayaks from Paddelkompaniet in Järnavik. Source: Leif Olsson