Point Roberts

Point Roberts, village, Whatcom county, northwestern Washington, U.S., near the Canadian border. It is located at the tip of a small peninsula (also called Point Roberts) that juts southward from British Columbia and is bisected by the international boundary, and it is surrounded on three sides by the waters of the Strait of Georgia (west and south) and Boundary Bay (east). This American village can be reached overland from the United States only via British Columbia (going through both Canadian and U.S. customs).

The point was named by George Vancouver in 1792 in honour of a fellow officer of the British navy, Captain Henry Roberts. In 1846 the United States and Britain, acting for Canada, agreed to extend the 49th parallel as the boundary between the two countries, not noticing that this act would cause Point Roberts to be cut off from the rest of Canada. Settlement of the village began about 1858, during the Fraser River gold rush, and, for a time, there was substantial salmon fishing and canning, now much reduced. Many inhabitants are Canadian, the city of Vancouver being less than 20 miles (30 km) north. Point Roberts is part of the metropolitan area of Bellingham. Pop. (2010) 1,314.