The first Icelander to visit Point Roberts was a woman, Gudlaug Jonsdottir. She was married to a man of French descent named Disotel. Gudlaug was the niece of Rev. Jonas Jonasson from Eyjafjord. They came by boat from Bellingham, took a good look around and their favorable report interested four other Icelandic families to move to the Point in 1892. Word of mouth soon found several more Icelandic families joining them in 1894 from Victoria, B.C.

These Icelandic immigrants were attracted to the Point for employment in the fishing industry and affordable land, though the acreage they bought entitled them to “squatter’s rights” only. The Point at that time was a U.S. Military Reserve. It wasn’t until 1908 that President Roosevelt opened Point Roberts to homesteaders, and each family was allowed to own the land they were living on.

These immigrants brought their much loved books and belongings, and kept the Icelandic traditions. Children spoke Icelandic in the home, not learning English until they went off to school. They were intrepid farmers, coaxing crops out of the gravelly loam. Some had egg farms, produce to sell to the local canneries and fishing boats, some worked for the salmon canneries and others shipped cream from purebred Guernsey cows to Bellingham, Washington by boat. A small supply ship brought goods and mail 3 times a week from Bellingham and Blaine until a daily overland route was started in 1934 by an Icelander, Ted Solomon.

With the gradual demise of the fishing industry, many residents were forced to move away for employment, and what was once a large ethnic population has dwindled down to just a few. If you take a stroll through the Point Roberts cemetery, you will notice many Icelandic headstones, some 77 of them that mark those who were born in the old country. A monument was placed there by the only Head of State to visit Point Roberts, with this inscription: “In memory of the first Icelandic settlers in the area. Her Excellency, Vigdis Finnbogadottir, President of Iceland, October 11, 1988.”

While many of the original farms are now overgrown by quackgrass and blackberry vines and many fine farmhouses have sunk to ruins, the spirit and memory of those early immigrants live on in the memories of those who knew them and those who share their bloodlines.