Poulsbo is a small waterfront city on Liberty Bay in northern Kitsap County, Washington, about a 25-minute drive from the Bainbridge Island and Kingston ferry terminals that connect the Kitsap Peninsula to Seattle. With roughly 12,000 residents, it is the smallest of the four incorporated cities in Kitsap County, yet it carries one of the region's most distinctive cultural identities. The city was settled in the late 1800s by Norwegian immigrants drawn to a landscape that reminded them of the fjords of their homeland; its founding is credited to Norwegian immigrant Ole Stubb in 1875. The community became widely known as "Little Norway," and at one time Norwegian was commonly spoken in town. Local lore holds that the intended name "Paulsbo" became "Poulsbo" through a clerical error when the town's name was registered in Washington, D.C. Today Poulsbo balances that Scandinavian character with its role as a residential and commercial hub for northern Kitsap County. Its compact downtown along Front Street overlooks Liberty Bay and is lined with bakeries, restaurants, and independent shops that lean into the town's Nordic identity. Beyond tourism, the city serves a mix of military families connected to nearby Naval Base Kitsap, maritime and health-care workers, and Puget Sound commuters who prefer the peninsula's quieter pace and waterfront setting. The broader North Kitsap area, from Suquamish and Kingston to Hansville, Indianola, and Port Gamble, gives Poulsbo a wide community network of parks, shorelines, and small-town centers, while the ferries keep downtown Seattle within reach for work and city amenities.