Page 208 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Alaska

206  ALASK A AREA B Y AREA

E Baranov Museum
101 Marine Way. Tel 486-5920.
Open summer: 10am–4pm Mon–Sat;
winter: 10am–3pm Tue–Sat. & =
∑ baranovmuseum.org
The Kodiak Historical Society’s
Baranov Museum occupies the
white weather board Erskine
House, built by Alexander
Baranov in 1808 as a warehouse
for otter pelts, and named after
one of its later owners. Although
minor changes have been made,
this is the oldest exist ing building
Looking down on Kodiak town from Pillar Mountain on the US West Coast. The
museum features such oddities
1 Kodiak converted large numbers of as an unusual three-seat baidarka
Natives, whose descendants (skin boat) and a Russian seal-
150 miles (241 km) SW of Homer.
Transport map D4. * 6,100. still follow the faith. The skin banknote. It also holds
~ from Anchorage. g from Homer. present Holy Resurrection Alutiiq and Aleut artifacts
n100 Marine Way (Marine Hwy Russian Orthodox Cathedral such as woven grass bas-
Terminal building), 486-4070. _ Pillar is, in fact, the third on kets, seal gut bags, and
Mountain Golf Classic (late Mar), Crab this site. A scale replica of bone carvings. The Russian
Festival (Memorial Day weekend), State the original 1794 church era is reflected in a beau-
Fair & Rodeo (1st weekend in Sep). is kept at St. Herman’s tiful collection of brass
∑ kodiak.org Theological Seminary samovars and icons,
next door. The second and the 1912 Novarupta
Known as Alaska’s Emerald Isle, church, built in 1874, eruption is chronicled
Kodiak Island and its sur round- was destroyed by fire in a photo graphic
ings are best known for rain, in 1943. The current Samovar at the display. The archives
bears, and fishing. Kodiak was building, with blue Baranov Museum and exten sive library
settled by Alutiiq hunters and onion domes and gold- are open to the public.
fishermen as many as 7,000 years flecked win dows, contains an
ago. Its name, in fact, comes from original 1790s Russian icon, E Alutiiq Museum
the Alutiiq word Qiq’rtaq, which ornate candlestands, and the 215 Mission Road. Tel 486-7004.
simply means “island” and was reliquary of the 18th-century Open mid-May–mid-Sep:10am–
cor rupted by the Russians to Russian monk, St. Herman, 4pm Mon–Fri, noon–4pm Sat.
Kodiak. The first Russian explorer canonized here in 1970. The Closed Mon in winter. & 7 =
landed here in 1763, and the neighboring chapel houses ∑ alutiiqmuseum.org
village came up in 1784. About a a collection of 17th-century With the arrival of the Russians
decade later, Alexander Baranov manuscripts and a hand-carved in Alaska in the late 18th cen-
set up a trading post, designating chandelier. Each August, some tury, many aspects of Alutiiq
it the capital of Russian America. 300 boats join a pilgrim age to culture on Kodiak and on the
Kodiak suffered two major nearby Spruce Island, the saint’s Alaska and Kenai Peninsulas
natural disasters in the last retreat in his later years. were lost, but more than
century: the 1912 explosion 1,000 archeological sites
of Novarupta (see p211) and around the region reveal
the 1964 earthquake (see p29). the original ways of the
The island was once largely Alutiiq. This museum has
tree less, but spruce seeds and put together an archive
pol len blowing across from and collection of his-
the mainland have taken torical artifacts, includ-
hold of the northern end of the ing Alutiiq ornaments,
archi pelago and the forests are a replica of an 1883
slowly spreading southward. ground squirrel parka,
and a fabulous awirnaq
5 Holy Resurrection Russian (spruce root hat), shared
Orthodox Cathedral between this museum
410 Mission Road. Tel 486-3854. and the Anchorage
8 late May–early Sep: 1–2pm daily. Museum (see pp72–3)
^ 5 6pm Sat, 9am Sun. in alternating years.
Following Russian colonists to The renowned Alutiiq
Alaska in the 18th and 19th Dancers occa sionally
centuries, Orthodox priests Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Cathedral perform here.
For hotels and restaurants in this area see p245 and p255

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