The Icelandic Rootshús

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 the Deuce of August celebrations in Mountain, North Dakota.

After years of building online and in-person events, we will open the physical doors to a place where those connections can live. Icelanders settled in many locations across North America, and that story will be told at the Rootshús. It will be a permanent home for our physical collections, the interpretive center, the library, and our artifacts. It is a place that belongs to all of us, wherever we live.

A Home for Our Work

The Rootshús will be a permanent interpretive center for Icelandic heritage. It will stand on land mostly donated to Icelandic Roots, across from the historic Vikur Church and Cemetery — on land homesteaded by Rev. Páll Þorláksson, the Father of the Icelandic Settlement in Dakota.

For years, many of you have asked: Where will the books go? Where will the artifacts live? Where can we gather in person to do the work we love doing online?

The Rootshús is the answer.

It gives Icelandic Roots a permanent home for education, interactive experiences, our library and research, our community, and the stories we have been preserving together for years.

What You'll Find Inside

The Rootshús is a living, interpretive, and educational center designed for discovery, connection, and learning for all ages.

The Library will house our collection of over 4,000 volumes — including many rare and valuable works in Icelandic and English, the Guðbrandsbiblía reprint, the Michael Fell and George Hanson donations, and Hálfdan Helgason's genealogy books that started it all in 2013. Plus, many hundreds of volumes that were brought to North America by our ancestors.

The Emigration Trail will be an immersive audio/visual experience. Visitors enter through a turf house door — the last door our ancestors left from the farms — and follow the story of leaving Iceland, crossing the ocean, and beginning again in North America.

The Children's Discovery Corner will connect the next generation to their heritage through hands-on learning and interactive activities.

A 3D Interactive Map of Iceland will let visitors touch a region and discover where they left as well as the geography of the locations their family lived in Iceland.

There will also be storyboards, artifacts, rotating displays, genealogy exploration assistance, and a coffee bar. A gift shop will be operated in cooperation with the Icelandic Communities Association.

Where Things Stand

We have been working on this quietly for a long time, and the pieces have finally come together. The core property was donated in October 2025 by Lori Byron Cameron. We are so appreciative of this gift, and most of the building will be on her land in honor of her parents, Duane "Duke" and Lorraine Byron. Other land has been donated by Roger Bjornson, Eugene Byron, and Phyllis Byron Aarseth. Additional connecting parcels are in the final stages of surveying and title work. Architectural planning is well underway with strong progress on the interior layout.

Everything we have built, and will continue to build online, is about to have an address!

A significant donation has been secured toward the building's shell. We are pursuing additional grant funding, and our current focus is sponsorship of the interior exhibits that will bring this center to life.

Why This Matters

Every week, over 80 people across Canada, Iceland, and the United States volunteer their time for Icelandic Roots. They add to our databases, translate documents, research emigration records, and answer genealogy questions. We publish a newsletter every Sunday and host Samtal Hours, Book Clubs, Roots Tips, seminars, and webinars. The social media team maintain active sites across podcasts, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We also fund scholarships and heritage grants across three countries.

All of this work has been done without a permanent home.

That changes now.

What's Next

I will share updates on the Rootshús as we reach milestones and progress in development. If you are planning to attend the Deuce of August celebrations on August 1, 2026, mark it on your calendar. You are invited to the official groundbreaking and all the fun during the weekend.

The Rootshús is being built because of you - because of what the Icelandic Roots community has created together in thirteen years. This permanent home for our physical collections will be a place that belongs to all of us, wherever we live, and a reminder that this story continues because of you. There are many ways to be a part of bringing this home to life - through encouragement, participation, time, and support of all kinds.

I cannot wait to open the doors and welcome you inside!

Takk fyrir!

The Rootshús address is 277 Main Ave., Mountain, ND 58262. If you feel called to be a part of this journey in any way, I would love to hear from you. Contact Sunna by email. Visit icelandicroots.com for more information.