Sitka

Sunday morning, September 25, and the Alaska summer is coming to an end. The volunteer portion is over, but the adventure will continue for a few more days with a flight from Anchorage to Sitka and then the ferry to Bellingham. The flight provided blue skies, glaciers, snowcapped mountains, and wilderness as far as the eye can see. Tree covered islands and turquoise water preceded the landing in Juneau, then it was a 20-minute hop to touchdown in Sitka which someone described as similar to landing on an aircraft carrier.

Enjoying the sun and warm weather, we strolled the harbor much of the afternoon talking to several fishermen. There are commercial vessels as well as a variety of personal craft that range from fixer-uppers on up.

Castle Hill marks the spot where the Russians handed over Alaska to the US in 1867. [mini history lesson: The Russians took this land from the Tlinkgt two centuries ago and called it New Archangel. The Tlinkgt destroyed the Russian settlement in 1801, but three years later Russians returned to reclaim the land.]

Monday morning we walked out to Sitka National Historic Park, also called Totem Park. Totem Trail goes by a dozen or more poles many of which are either restored or replicas made by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

Back downtown we visited the Russian Bishop’s House which was a combination of house for the Bishop, church and school. It was built in 1843 and restored by the National Park Service in 1972. Bishop Innocent had an interest in the Native cultures and managed to do his religious teachings without destroying the Tlingit and Haida cultures. Many of the original artifacts are preserved here.

The Russian Orthodox church in the circle downtown was unfortunately closed giving us a 100% failure rate to see any of the ornate interiors of these relics in Alaska!

I had called Flagstaff friends Brian and Lois Chambers who spend the summer here and Lois picked us up at our hotel in the afternoon and drove us 7 miles out to the south end of Baranoff Island, then back to their house for a fantastic dinner of Sockeye. They are perched on a near vertical hill atop 12,000 tons of rock which provide the base for the foundation. They must have the most stunning views in town, including the sunset this night.

Tuesday morning we went back downtown and found an old Russian/Tlingit cemetery in a most unusual setting. The graves are scattered amongst trees and thick vegetation on rolling ground with no apparent system as we are used to. While there are current headstones, most are quite old. The oldest age was, ironically, for a
“Mrs. Jackson,” no first name, and she died in October of 1927. The earliest birth found was 1821, headstone seen here. Many children, including this drowned 15-year old with one of the only markers that included any such personal information.

The Chambers then kindly fed us lunch and drove us to the other end of the island to meet the ferry. We have travelled all 14 miles of highway from end to end of the island. I’m sure that the good weather played a part in making Sitka a memorable part of the summer and a place I would like to return for a few more days.