Nord-Fron

Nord-Fron is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Vinstra. Other population centers in Nord-Fron include the villages of Kvam and Skåbu.

The 1141 km2 municipality is the 95th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Nord-Fron is the 169th most populous municipality in Norway, with a population of 5,589. The municipality's population density is 5.1 PD/km2, and its population has decreased by 4.1% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
The prestegjeld of Fron was established as a civil municipality on 1 January 1838 when the new formannskapsdistrikt law was enacted. On 1 January 1851, the municipality was divided in two. The northwest portion became Nord-Fron Municipality (population: 4,685), and the southeast portion became Sør-Fron Municipality (population: 3,421).

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the Sjoa area (population: 413) was transferred from Nord-Fron to the neighboring Sel Municipality. Then, on 1 January 1966, Nord-Fron Municipality (population: 5,758) and Sør-Fron Municipality (population: 3,648) were merged to form a new Fron Municipality (with similar borders to the old Fron municipality that existed from 1838 to 1851 minus the Sjoa area which was then part of Sel).

This merger was not well-liked among the residents of the new municipality. On 1 January 1977, the merger was reversed. Nord-Fron Municipality (population: 6,131) and Sør-Fron Municipality (population: 3,509) were recreated using their old borders from 1965.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Fron farm (Frón) since the first Fron Church was built there. The first element is which means "northern". The last element is uncertain, but it may come from the word, which means "earth" or "land". Thus the name of the municipality is "(the) northern (part of) Fron" (since the parish of Fron was divided in 1851 into a "north" and a "south" part). Historically, it was called Nordre Fron, using another word that also means "north". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Nordre Fron. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Nord-Fron, using an alternate word for "north".

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 18 July 1980. The official blazon is "Gules, a horse forcené Or" (På raud botn ein oppreist gull hest). This means the arms have a red field (background), and the charge is a Dole Gudbrandsdal horse rearing up on its hind legs. The horse has a tincture of Or, which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The Fron area has a long-standing tradition in horse breeding and is one of the main centres of horse breeding in Norway. Historically, the old Fron municipality used unofficial arms with a horse on it. After Fron was divided into Nord- and Sør-Fron in 1977, Nord-Fron chose these arms. Hallvard Trætteberg designed the arms. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches
The Church of Norway has four parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Nord-Fron. It is part of the Nord-Gudbrandsdal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

History
The Nord-Hoge farm in the Sødorp parish of Nord-Fron is the legendary home of Per Gynt. Per was made famous by Peter Asbjørnsen's folk tales and Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt.

The body of Captain Sinclair is buried in Kvam.

The small Kvam Church, built in 1775, was burned down during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was rebuilt after the war.

Geography
Nord-Fron is bordered to the northwest by Sel Municipality, to the east and south by Sør-Fron Municipality, in the south by Øystre Slidre Municipality, and to the southwest by Vågå Municipality. The municipality stretches from the Rondane mountains in the north to the Jotunheimen mountains in the southwest.

There are two main population centres in Nord-Fron: the town of Vinstra in the central part of the municipality and the village of Kvam in the north. Kvam is located at the northern end of the Peer Gynt Road, which passes through high roads with excellent views of the Jotunheimen, Dovrefjell, and Rondane mountain.

Lakes in the area include Feforvatnet, Olstappen, Øyangen, and Sandvatnet/Kaldfjorden/Øyvatnet. Mountains in the region include Gravdalsknappen, Heimdalshøe, Hornflågene, Ingulssjøhøi, Saukampen, Sikkilsdalshøa, Styggehøe, and Smiubelgen.

Government
Nord-Fron Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. A vote of the municipal council indirectly elects the mayor. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Vestre Innlandet District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Nord-Fron is made up of 25 representatives that are elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors of Nord-Fron (incomplete list):


 * 1894–1898: Ole Iversen Teige (V)
 * 1902–1907: Ole Iversen Teige (V)
 * 1945-1955: Albert Kvammen (Ap)
 * 1956-1965: Paul Brenna (Ap)
 * (1966-1977: part of Fron Municipality)
 * 1977-1983: Tollef Beitrusten (Ap)
 * 1984-2007: Gunnar Tore Stenseng (Ap)
 * 2007-2011: Tove Haugli (Ap)
 * 2011-2015: Olav Røssum (Sp)
 * 2015–2021: Rune Støstad (Ap)
 * 2021–present: Anne-Marie Olstad (Ap)

Royal residence
The Royal Mountain Chalet, Prinsehytta, is located in the Sikkilsdalen valley in Nord-Fron. It is used as a royal residence by the Norwegian royal family for hunting trips and during the Easter and winter holidays.

Eidefoss petroglyphs
The rock carvings at Eidefoss are located on the east side of the river south of the white water.

National parks

 * Rondane National Park, which lies partially in Nord-Fron, was the first Norwegian National Park, established on 21 December 1962. In 2003, Rondane National Park was enlarged, and smaller areas of nature protection were opened or enlarged.
 * Jotunheim National Park is not technically in Nord-Fron, but its southern border brushes Nord-Fron's western border.

Sister cities
Nord-Fron has sister city agreements with the following places:
 * 🇸🇪 - Hedemora, Dalarna County, Sweden
 * - Richmond, North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom



Notable people

 * Peder Per Veggum (1768 in Nord-Fron – 1836), a Norwegian artist and rose painter, a cabinet carpenter and woodcarver; associated with the decorative folk art of Rosemaling
 * Ole Paulssøn Haagenstad (1775 in Fron – 1866), a Norwegian farmer and politician
 * Jacob Smith Jarmann (1816 in Nord-Fron – 1894), a Norwegian firearms designer, invented the Jarmann M1884 rifle
 * Hallstein Høgåsen (born 1937 in Nord-Fron), a Norwegian theoretical physicist, main field elementary particle physics
 * Grete Berget (1954 in Vinstra – 2017), a Norwegian politician and journalist
 * Geir Helgemo (born 1970 in Vinstra), a professional bridge player, Monaco resident
 * Øystein Skar (born 1985 in Vinstra), a Norwegian pianist and composer