Gautavik is a farm on the northern side of the Berufjordur Bay.  It is situated on a cove by the same name, where there was a trading post and a harbour in the past.  The ruins of the houses were declared inviolate and some research has been carried out there.  One of the first missionaries to visit Iceland before Christianity was adopted was a priest by the name of Thangbrandur.  He was a German, who became the priest of the Royal Court of Norway under king Olafur Tryggvason, who sent him to Iceland to Christianize the population.  He is described as a violent person, who carried the crucifix in one hand and the sword in the other.

The annals of the 14^th and 15^th centuries mention the Gautavik Cove harbour as the main trading post of East Iceland.  German tradesmen of the Hansa League were based there until they moved across the bay in the latter part of the 16^th century, first to the Fuluvik Cove and then to Cove Djupivogur.  A landslide hit the farm Gautavik in the summer of 1792 and the family was killed.