Blaine

Icelanders

Web site of the Blaine Icelandic Heritage Society, an affiliate of the Icelandic National League of North America

 

 
 

More about The Tricking of Freya

Blaine Icelandic Picnic

Peace Arch Park - American Kitchen

July 18 1 pm - 4 pm

Bring your picnic lunch and Icelandic Heritage to share.

Icelandic treats, cake, coffee and other beverages will be provided.

Icelandic Flags will be placed on Icelandic graves at Hillsdale and Blaine Cemeteries

 
 

Agust Breidford's Memoir: His Story

The Blaine Icelandic Heritage Society

Settlement History

Blaine Cemetery

Hillsdale Cemetery

Webcams in the Icelandic World

Links

Coffee Time

Website Contact

 

BIHS members posing for their 2008 pre-Thorrablot (Þorrablót)  photo.

 
 
    This site is an ongoing effort to document the Icelandic settlement in Blaine, Washington. Icelandic immigrants came to Blaine directly from Iceland or from other Icelandic settlements in North America, primarily in the mid-western United States and Manitoba, Canada.

   Settler's occupations ranged from farm day laborers, mill-workers, fisherman, to farmers, shop-keepers, writers and a photographer.  Icelanders formed their own churches in Blaine, created choirs and joined in community orchestras.

   Icelandic writer, Margret Benedictson, who made her home in the Blaine area, documented the lives of several Icelandic settlers in the 1920s, thirties and forties  for the Icelandic language publication "Almanak." Her writings have been translated into English and published under the title, Icelanders on the Pacific Coast.

  Elias Breidford, was Blaine's unofficial photographer for several decades, and his extensive photographic collection is now housed at the Whatcom Museum of History and Art in Bellingham, Washington, where it is being inventoried and catalogued.