Spillersboda

A name that probably has to do with fish

The origin of the name Spillersboda is not known for certain, but the most likely explanation has to do with fishing.

The first part of the name, spillers, may refer to the fishing implement called an utterbräda, also known as a spillernot. Another possibility is the older verb spila — to prepare fish by removing the backbone and threading sticks through the split-open fish so that it could be hung to dry in special positions. The second part of the name, boda, can mean a settlement used seasonally, like the ones people set up where fish came to spawn.

The place name thus tells of a location people came to in order to fish, not to live.

The shop, the jetty and the guesthouses

Spillersboda is first mentioned in 1535. In the 18th century there were three farms in the area — two in Mutsunda and one in Spillersboda.

In 1888, Carl Fridolf Westerblom opened a branch of the Mutsunda shop at the steamboat jetty in Spillersboda. A few years later, in 1894–1895, a new shop was built in a yellow house by the jetty — the so-called Tornvillan, which later became one of the village's many guesthouses. The building still stands.

Steamboats came here until the end of the 1940s. The bus from Norrtälje started running in 1932. The primary school was in operation between 1888 and 1964, and the school building remains.

The shipyard and the sawmill

Spillersboda Varv och Slip was established in 1919 and had its heyday during the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

The sawmill has been of great importance to the locality. It was started by Johan Eriksson in 1903 and still exists — nowadays as a building supplies store, and still one of the area's largest employers.

The community today

In Spillersboda there is a year-round shop, shipyard, building supplies store, marine equipment shop and many jetties. The locality is also of great importance to the islanders in the area, who shop and travel from here. Many of the permanent residents are self-employed, often craftspeople.

The bathing area is located in the community, with a sandy beach facing the sound.

How to get here

Spillersboda is located in Frötuna parish, approximately one mile outside Norrtälje.