This farm is situated at the foot of a group of mounds, which were created by a tremendous landslide when most of Mt Haafjall collapsed and reached the opposite slopes.  Only a thin edge with a few pinnacles (1,075 m) remained and in a depression between them and the collapsed part, Lake Hraunsvatn (see the angling site) gradually appeared.

Officially the poet and naturalist Jonas Hallgrimsson (1807-45) was born at Hraun.  It is disputed and many claim, that he was born at the farm Steinsstadir.  He travelled in Iceland in 1837 and 1839-42 to study the country’s nature and collect material for material for the Icelandic Literary Society.  He was one of the founders of the magazine Fjolnir and among the first to present romanticism in his works in Iceland.