One of the most fascinating classes I took in college was on American diplomatic history. I was not in graduate school yet, so I had not taken a geography course, yet was fascinated with the story behind the establishment of boundaries. I was especially fascinated by situations like the Northwest Angle in Minnesota. Due to establishing boundaries through treaties without adequate information, the Northwest Angle ended up being a piece of the U.S. that is connected by land to the U.S. only through Canada. This is on my bucket list to visit.

Later I became involved in the Overground Railroad where we helped host Central American refugees until they received their immigration papers from Canada. We sent one family to Delta, British Columbia. While investigating where they would be going, I encountered a similar US enclave just south of Delta, Point Roberts. This was put on my bucket list and 35 years later I finally got there!

The origins of this situation go back to disputes between the United Kingdom and the U.S. over what was referred to as Oregon. The 1844 presidential campaign slogan for the Democrats was (latitude) 54 40 or fight—a claim to Oregon. The issue was settled diplomatically in 1846 with an agreement to extend the border of the 49th parallel across the Rockies and to the Pacific. Alas, the very tip of the Tsawwassen peninsula, south of Vancouver, BC, extended below the 49th parallel and thus ended up in the U.S. with the only land route to the Lower 48 being through Canada. Like the Northwest Angle, the border was determined without complete information.

I had always wanted to see what life looked like at Point Roberts. Census and school data show that the enclave has around 1200 residents. Forty percent of the residents are foreign born…mmm…could it be Canadian born?  I did read that children in the enclave are bused through Canada to Blaine, Washington to go to school, but school statistics show that the enclave has a K-2 school with 10 students.

How does life work here? I assume that there is a need for international negotiations in order to come to agreements on water, sewage, telephone, and fire and emergency service between Canada and Point Roberts. I also tried to imagine life during the COVID pandemic with the closed border. It does appear that this required a ferry to the US for a time in order for people in the enclave to be able to have access to the US.

My reason for being in this area was work in the Vancouver area and the need to pick up someone on the ferry from Vancouver Island, which has a terminal close by. Thankfully, my friend Vicki, who was with me, was up for an adventure. The first question was: What should we say the purpose of our US visit? It was morning and we both like coffee. We noticed a coffee shop on the map in Point Roberts. Enroute all the way up to the border, we passed upscale shopping and housing developments, including Starbucks, but were going to have coffee in the U.S.

When we got to the border, it had no line, and we were asked why we were entering the US and did we have any fruit or vegetables. We said we were going to go for coffee, and we did not have fruit or vegetables—actually we did, but they were from the U.S. when we crossed the border the day before so it didn’t seem worth arguing this point.

The change was quite dramatic. The upscale development gave way to forest, very modest and dispersed housing, few retail establishments, and few people. Tourism seemed limited as well. I was fascinated by the gas station which used liters rather than gallons and the predominance of Harris/Walz signs. What was evident everywhere were shipping companies like UPS. Life clearly involved mail-order, perhaps increased with the pandemic.

We drove almost every road in the enclave in 20 minutes and failed to find coffee. When we reached the border again, this time crossing back into Canada, we were asked why we were coming into Canada. We said we needed to pick someone up at the ferry and go to the US, and to get coffee. The border guard wanted to know if we had fruit or vegetables. We said we did not have any since all we had were some fruit we bought in the US the day before when we went to Canada, and then into Point Roberts in the US 20 minutes ago, and now back into Canada for about 40 minutes before we went back into the US. It did not seem worth arguing the point.

One of the important pieces of information that I took away was finding out that the sister city of Point Roberts is Campobello Island in New Brunswick, Canada. Its only land connection to Canada is through Maine. Another place is put on my bucket list and it appears that Vicki is up for another adventure on the other side of the continent.