Photograps
Photos by Raymond Wardenær
searching origin of my name
On one of my trips north, my brother, Ketil; came along. Since he wanted to stay in Bodø and I needed the car on the island, we drove both cars. He he’d a modern BMW and I used my old MG. We decided to go north on the eastern route, since that would enable us to visit the farm where our family name, Wardenær, originated.
This place is situated in Rendalen meaning Reindeer valley. Very appropriate for an area with a lott of food for reindeer, Lichen. See the first picture.
The lichen gives the forest a strange colour- 
My companion on one of the trips, my brother Ketil.
The old farm we wanted to visit changed name at the end of 1790. I have not succeeded finding when the beautiful buildings were built.It was called Søndre Karlshaugen, and owned by Karl Karlsen Nordset. He was appointed the guardian of the cairn above his farm. A cairn is called en varde in Norwegian. These cairns were used as part of the warning signal system all around the country, to tell the war was coming. People would lit fires inside every cairn to warn about the threat. When Karlsen Nordset became responsible for his local cairn, or varde, he changed his name to Vardenær. Nær means near. So in English it could be Cairnnear.
Later on many with the surname of Vardenær, changed to Wardenær. Maybe they thought that looked more impressive.
So here are several photos of the farm that gave name to my family.
My old MG in front of the very first Vardenær. 
The twin store buildings.
Photograps 
Mycket intressant!
How very cool to seek and find the origins of your sir-name. There’s a Public TV program in the USA called “Finding Your Roots” that I watch on occasion. It’s absolutely fascinating how far back they are sometimes able to trace bloodlines as well as names. Of course, in this country, since few of us originated in North America, our roots spread far and wide. It’s really interesting… and often quite surprising to the person whose history is researched.
I love this story, Raymond! Looking forward to reading more.
Is it still a working farm? Looks like a museum! Pretty cool to be able to trace when your name originated. And the name itself is very meaningful.
I think the owner uses it for holidays. But as you can see, he is keeping everything in very good order.