Point Roberts

History

The area around the southern Tsawwassen Peninsula was a favored fishing spot for several Coast Salish groups. The first Europeans to see Point Roberts were members of the 1791 expedition of Francisco de Eliza. The maps produced from Eliza's explorations depicted Point Roberts as "Isla de Cepeda" or "Isla de Zepeda." In 1792, the British expedition of George Vancouver and the Spanish expedition of Dionisio Alcalá Galiano encountered one another near Point Roberts. In the morning of June 13, 1792, the two ships under Galiano sailed into Boundary Bay and verified Point Roberts was not an island, which was thus renamed Punta Cepeda. They then sailed around Point Roberts and immediately encountered HMS Chatham, the second ship of Vancouver's expedition. The two parties made contact and agreed to share information and work together in mapping the Strait of Georgia. Point Roberts acquired its present name from George Vancouver, who named it after his friend Henry Roberts, who had originally been given command of the expedition. Point Roberts assumed its present political status in 1846, when the Oregon Treaty extended the 49th parallel as the boundary between U.S. and British territory from the Rocky Mountains to Georgia Strait. After years of joint occupation of the disputed area between Mexican California and Russian America (now Alaska) known as the Oregon Country to the Americans, and as the Columbia District to the British, American expansionists like U.S. Senator Edward A. Hannegan of Indiana urged U.S. President James K. Polk to annex the entire Oregon Country up to latitude 54°40′N, as the Democrats had been elected on the slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight". While his government asserted that the title of the United States of America to the entire territory was…

Geography

Point Roberts is a U.S. exclave bordered by Canada and the waters of Boundary Bay. It is south of Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. Point Roberts is part of the U.S. because it lies south of the 49th parallel, which constitutes the Canada–US border in that area. Other exclaves of this type include parts of Minnesota such as the Northwest Angle and Elm Point, Minnesota. Alburgh, Vermont and nearby Province Point are separated from the rest of the U.S. by Lake Champlain, though Alburgh is reachable by highway bridge from "mainland" Vermont. Point Roberts borders the municipality of Delta in British Columbia. Boundary Bay lies to the east of Point Roberts and the Strait of Georgia to the south and west. The U.S. portion of the peninsula is about from north to south and about from east to west. It has an area of , all land. Beneath Point Roberts, the bedrock of the Chuckanut Formation was deposited as an alluvial plain containing layers of sediments consisting of silt, sand, gravel and peat. During the last 60 million years the sediments were compacted and folded by mountain building forces from continental drift to form strata of siltstone, sandstone, conglomerate and coal. During recent geologic history, the Chuckanut formation was overridden by four or more glaciations. Point Roberts consists of a series of the resulting glacial sediments resting upon the Chuckanut Formation. The lowest glacial sediments (now near sea level) are from Salmon Springs or older glaciations. At the peak of the most recent glaciation, the main ice sheet was in excess of thick as it moved southward between Vancouver Island and the Canadian Coast Range and down the Strait of Georgia. A smaller lobe of the continental glacier in excess of traveled down the Fraser River flood plains…

Most-observed species

• Bald Eagle

  Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  35,960
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  33,344
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  32,961
• Glaucous-winged Gull

  Larus glaucescens J.F.Naumann, 1840 · Aves
  32,855
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  32,188
• Great Blue/Cocoi Heron

  Ardea herodias Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  32,179
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  30,645
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  27,646

Largest nearby schools

• Point Roberts Primary
  Elementary · POINT ROBERTS · 10 students · 10:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.86 — 2026-06-08
  2 km ESE of Oak Harbor, Washington
• M 2.56 — 2026-05-29
  7 km ENE of Ferndale, Washington
• M 2.7 — 2026-04-27
  5 km N of Anacortes, Washington
• M 2.7 — 2026-01-26
  12 km WSW of Anacortes, Washington
• M 2.7 — 2025-10-21
  10 km SE of Salt Spring Island, Canada
• M 2.6 — 2025-09-18
  14 km SW of Cowichan Bay, Canada