New holiday homes, some with outdoor hot tubs, have been built along the bay for wealthy Nuuk residents. They stand empty and shuttered in winter.

From a nearby cliff, an iceberg-filled fjord is visible. The scenery could draw tourism, but the village lacks even basic infrastructure.

"There's a risk the settlement could die," Village Leader Heidi Lennert Nolso said. "People are getting old."

Kapisillit once had nearly 500 residents at its peak, said Kristiane Josefsen, a lifelong resident. Today it has 37. Josefsen, born in 1959, works with sealskin — washing, processing and scraping ? ?it to sell in Nuuk for national costumes.

"Scraping sealskins is very hard on the body," she said. But though she plans to retire this year, she does not intend to leave. "I'm staying here. I belong here," she said. "This is my land. Greenland is my land."

Agencies Via Xinhua