What s an odd little lighthouse, topped with Viking Dragon Boat weathervane, doing in landlocked Spanish Fork, Utah?
It was built in 1938-39 to honor the first permanent Icelandic settlement in the USA. The original 16 settlers weren t lured to Spanish Fork s by its un-Icelandic climate. They were religious zealots, Mormon converts who, according to the church, were banished for their beliefs and decided that Utah was the place to resettle. Spanish Fork holds an Icelandic Days festival every summer in their honor.
According to a plaque bolted to the lighthouse, the Viking boat is a tribute to Leif Eiriksson, an Icelander, who discovered America in 1000 A.D.