Sumas
This 54 mile side trip explores farming communties in the Nooksack River valley and Sumas Prairie.
Like what you see? Want to share it?
Clicking a crosshair will take you to that location on the map.
Start or the end of a tour leg.
Waypoint or town along the tour leg with more information.
Key waypoints and Main Street communities along the tour leg. Sites you do not want to miss!
Point of interest along the tour leg.
One of the richest agricultural regions in the State. Logged-off lands, cleared of stumps by a laborious and expensive process of blasting, pulling, and burning, now produce excellent crops of vegetables, berries, fruits, daffodils, and tulips in commercial quantities. Years of intensive cultivation are required to make farming such land profitable. The climate and soil of this part of the State are well suited to the growing of sugar beets,...
Learn more about Nooksack River ValleyLocated in what is now Berthusen Memorial Park, the area was originally the homestead site of Hans C. and Linda H. Berthusen. The barn, privy, and 20-acre virgin forest are the only remaining features from the farmstead. Completed in 1901, the Berthusen Barn is comprised in two sections, an older 1887 English style barn, and a large Bank barn addition. In 1901, Hans Berthusen and Jack Jensen tripled the size...
Learn more about Berthusen Barn and PrivyA substantial, thriving distribution and market center of northern Whatcom County, it was settled in 1869. Among its industrial plants were an egg warehouse, from which carloads of eggs were shipped to New York City; a barreling plant for packing strawberries and other fruits; a creamery, operated by the Whatcom County Dairymen’s Association; and a plant for converting surplus, skim, and sour milk into stock food. Since 1900, when the...
Learn more about LyndenPoints of Interest
US Post Office
Lynden Department Store
The name, Sumas, comes from that of a Cowichan Native American tribe who lived on Sumas Lake, River, and Prairie. Sm-mess means land without trees and referred to Sumas Prairie.
Learn more about Sumas PrairieA boundary town of frame and old brick buildings. In 1858, during the first of the periodic gold rushes, a number of prospectors with great difficulty made their way overland along an Native American trail through Sumas Valley to the wilderness of the upper Fraser River country. Sumas was the fourth organized border station in the history of the U.S./Canadian border crossing locations. Yet, even with gold strikes in both...
Learn more about Sumas