Erik the Red (Erik Thorvaldsson) was a Norwegian Viking. He was born in Rogaland Norway in 950. He was banished from Norway for committing manslaughter. He then settled in Hornstrandir in northwest Iceland. But in 982, he murdered a neighbor and was forced into exile. He then settled in Greenland establishing a Norse settlement. Erik the Red named it Greenland in order to attract more settlers, knowing that there was nothing green growing there.

Leif Eiriksson was Erik the Red's son. He was born in this location in Iceland. Leif is considered the first European to discover North America, 500 years before Columbus. He sailed to North America from Greenland probably landing around what is today Newfoundland.

Below was where they lived in Iceland. Our local guide said that Iceland has so few people and such great recorded history that they can pinpoint such places exactly. Erik the Red's home is called Eriksstaoir.

This mowed area is the exact location of Eriksstaoir. If you look to the left side, you can see a mound of grass that is a recent re-creation of this house from historical records. It was rebuilt about the year 2000.

This young woman was our local guide here and told us straight away that she's a Viking. She gave us a very nice tour of the house and lots of information. You might also notice the chimney above and to the left of the door.

This was the sleeping area of the house but it also had to double as many other areas of the house. The fire is about 40% of the distance from one end of the house. Sod is on the outside as you can see in the prior photo.

They had to be quite self sufficient so tools like looms were probably more common than not.

I’m not sure why someone had to dress up like Erik the Red but I was the unanimous choice from our group. No one was hurt in this re-enactment…