Point Roberts, Washington is part of the United States, but you can't drive there without going through Canada. Here's how one straight line on an 1846 map created it, and why the town now lives or dies by its Canadian neighbors.

Pinn drops a pin on the tip of a tiny peninsula and follows the chain: the Oregon Country, the 49th parallel, the Pig War, a fort nobody built, Icelandic salmon fishers, Canadian cottagers and parcel shoppers, the 2020 border closure and the 2025 trade war.

Chapters
0:00 The town you can't drive to
0:23 The Oregon Country
0:50 One straight line (1846)
1:12 The tip below the line
1:38 The Pig War
2:16 The fort nobody built
2:35 Salmon and squatters
3:14 Canada moves in
3:39 Being American
4:06 Plugged into Canada
4:36 The border closes (2020)
5:10 The trade war (2025)
5:38 The twist
5:51 The pin

Sources
- HistoryLink.org: "Point Roberts — Thumbnail History" (essay 9158)
- Britannica: "Point Roberts"; "Oregon Question"; "Pig War"
- National Park Service: San Juan Island National Historical Park (Pig War)
- AP / PBS NewsHour (March 2025): "How this U.S. border town is grappling with Trump's trade war with Canada"
- Fortune (24 March 2025): Point Roberts sales and the trade war
- CBC News (2021, 2025); CFJC Today (March 2025): Canadian property ownership, population
- Global News (2025): Point Roberts water supply from Metro Vancouver (1987 agreement)
- Sen. Maria Cantwell, letter on Point Roberts (12 October 2021); KING 5 (2020–21): border closure, passenger ferry
- The Globe and Mail (2020); Vancouver Magazine; New West Record: health care, schools, Delta fire support
Figures are rounded; estimates of Canadian property ownership range from about 50 to 75 percent.

Satellite imagery © Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics. Borders: Natural Earth.

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