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Somewhere in the Pembina Hills is the stone we are looking for. Who has it? Photo Credit: jonadolf.com Icelandic sculptor Jón Adólf Steinólfsson has offered to come from Iceland to Mountain, North Dakota, to create an original outdoor sculpture for the Icelandic Rootshús. And he wants to carve it from a boulder found right here. So now we need to find THE BOULDER. Here is the fascinating part. The Pembina Hills are largely underlain by Cretaceous shale. These are the remains

Becky Byerly-Adams and Rob Olason The Deuce of August 2026 festivities in Mountain, North Dakota were host to a unique experience. The Rootshús groundbreaking ceremony took place and was honoured with a tribute of a song written for the occasion. The Groundbreakding for Rootshús by Becky Byerly-Adams August 1 was a beautiful, sunny day; perfect weather for the groundbreaking ceremony for the Icelandic Rootshús in Mountain, North Dakota. The Rootshús represents the culminati

The Deuce of August: Honoring the Past, Building the Future in northeastern North Dakota. Come celebrate Icelandic heritage.

On August 1, 2026 — 148 years after the first Icelandic families settled the northeast corner of Dakota Territory, we will have our official groundbreaking for the Icelandic Rootshús Interpretive Center in Mountain, North Dakota. This will be a permanent home we can walk into, rising across from the historic Víkur Church and Cemetery, where our shared story will be told, remembered, and carried forward. This land is the homestead of the Father of the Icelandic Settlement in D

By Rob Olason On the April 20, 2026, Samtal Hour, participants learned the latest updates to the Icelandic Rootshús project from Sunna Furstenau, the visionary force behind this ambitious venture. Ambitious? Really? Most definitely. First, a little backstory. Icelandic Roots, the organization Furstenau championed for over a decade, began as a non-profit online Icelandic genealogy database on November 12, 2013. Building on the database nurtured for decades by Halfdan Helgaso

The dream of a permanent home for Icelandic heritage in northeastern North Dakota took a major step forward this week. The Icelandic Roots Rootshús project in Mountain has been awarded a $300,000 Destination Development Grant from the North Dakota Department of Commerce. The award was announced as part of a statewide $4 million investment in projects designed to strengthen tourism, cultural identity, and local economic development across North Dakota. Computer rendition of Ro

For nearly eight years, we have been planning, dreaming, collecting, and working toward a permanent home for Icelandic Roots. This home (hús - house in Icelandic) is for our heritage, connections, and the work that brings us together, both online and in person. Today, I can finally share this with you: The Icelandic Rootshús, our heritage interpretive center, is moving forward, and the timeline is real. Ground breaking: August 1, 2026 Grand opening: July 31, 2027 Both during