It is significant as the first place in Alaska a non-native set foot, and thus chosen in 1978 for the location of the commemorative Bering Expedition Landing Site.

Going further, Steller came upon a cellar two fathoms deep from which he took two bundles of fish, a fire drill, arrows, tinder, and thongs of seaweed, bark, and grass, which he sent back to the ship.

In 1975, a forestry official called it the "discovery point of Alaska", and The Bering Expedition Landing Site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978.

Captain James Cook visited the island on May 12, 1778, and left a bottle at the base of a prominent tree, containing a slip of paper and two small pieces of silver given to him by Richard Kaye, the chaplain of King George III.

The 1779 expedition of Spanish explorer Ignacio de Arteaga y Bazán sighted the island about July 16, the feast day of Our Lady of Mt.