Museum of the Alutiiq Peoples and other Kodiak, AK Things to Do Tips

This museum is housed in one of Kodiak's more modern-looking buildings, but despite its comparatively opulent exterior, the displays are not particularly engaging for the ordinary visitor. Photography is not allowed here. A photo gallery of Alutiiq and Alaskan cultures (fish curing, natural scenery, etc) takes up the space of an entire wall, and some displays on Alutiiq means and methods might stir some interest. For kids, there is a small stack of topical gifts for sale (animal masks, etc). For scholars, the museum is crammed with every text imaginable on the topic, but for a comprehensive tour that requires only five minutes, the $2 admission might seem a little rich for your blood.

Leave a Comment

Phone: 907-486-7004
Address: 215 Mission Road
Website: www.alutiiqmuseum.com

Pronounced Bah-RON-ov by the locals and those in the know, the Baranov House or Museum is the best representation in town of Kodiak's non-Indian history. The house itself looks fairly modern, in part from extensive renovation after the 1964 earthquake and tsunami. Fortunately, the original house was spared demolition after this catastrophe, and remains the only log building in town still occupying its original site. The interior is well-preserved (or restored), and features a wonderful panorama of early Kodiak life and industries. Admission is $2 for non-members of the Historical Society.

Leave a Comment

Phone: (907) 486-5920
Address: 101 Marine Way
Website: www.ptialaska.net/~baranov

Fur trading was at one time the principal industry of Kodiak. The Russians set up a post here to conduct fur dealing and all other commercial activities in the 1700s under the guidance of Alexandr Baranov, who built the house that bears his name about 1800. Foxes, sea lions and of course the legendary Kodiak browns all provided pelts for the warehouse.

Leave a Comment

Phone: (907) 486-5920
Address: 101 Marine Way
Website: www.ptialaska.net/~baranov/index.html

The Baranov Museum also displays several delicate and important artefacts from the Aleut, Alutiiq and Russian occupations of Kodiak. The skull bones of whales adorn a wall in the exhibit, and other marine life (or former life) also form part of the display. Rainproof clothing made from animal intestines, and kayaks or bidarkas draped with sea lion skins to waterproof the primitive frame are all key parts of the Koniag-Aleut and Russian whaling exhibit.

Leave a Comment

Phone: (907) 486-5920
Address: 101 Marine Way
Website: www.ptialaska.net/~baranov/index.html

As a former warehouse and past home of the fur trading Russians, a portion of the Baranov Museum displays most of the fur-bearing animals native to Kodiak, namely the fox and the bear. Since its fur trade declined, Kodiak has introduced other species to the island, but in truth there are only five native mammals -- the bear, the fox, the tundra vole, the bat and the ermine.

Leave a Comment

Phone: (907) 486-5920
Address: 101 Marine Way
Website: www.ptialaska.net/~baranov/index.html

Alternately known as the Erskine House, the Baranov Museum once served as the home of William Erskine, an employee of the Alaska Commercial Co., a natural descendant of the Russian commercial activities on Kodiak. From 1911 to 1948, the year of Erskine's death, both he and his wife lived in the Baranov House, leaving a charming trace of an early Kodiak livelihood in the home. In 1962 the setting was preserved as a National Historic Landmark, the home still showing its earlier Russian and American influences.

Leave a Comment

Address: 101 Marine Way
Website: www.ptialaska.net/~baranov/index.html

Properly known as the Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Church or Cathedral, this simple white construction with blue onion domes is the fourth building to occupy this site since the Russians built their first parish church here in the late 18th century. The present cathedral was completed just after World War II, and was restored after the tsunami in 1964. The interior follows a simple design, the altar being decorated with icons and other emblems of the church, as well as the tomb of St Herman, Kodiak's patron saint. Photography is not permitted inside, but visitors are welcome.

Leave a Comment

Phone: (907) 486-0950
Address: 385 Kashevaroff Cir
Directions: you'll see the onion domes from almost anywhere along the waterfront, just a few blocks up from St Paul's Harbor
Website: www.alaskanchurch.org/pages/deaneries/parish.asp?KEY=OCA-AK-KODHRC

In the churchyard of the Russian Orthodox Church lie the graves of past Russian adherents to the diocese. Along with the fur trading and otter hunting, the Russians brought a religious culture that has thrived on Kodiak since 1794. While the tomb of St Herman inside the building contains relics of the saint's life, the mortal remains of other prominent churchmen lie outside on a quiet corner of the lawn.

Leave a Comment

Phone: (907) 486-0950
Address: 385 Kashevaroff Cir
Website: www.alaskanchurch.org/pages/deaneries/parish.asp?KEY=OCA-AK-KODHRC

A little farther up the road from the Russian Orthodox Church stands the St Herman Orthodox Theological Seminary, centered by the wooden chapel with small onion domes. Built entirely of wood without a trace of paint, the chapel is a replica of the first Russian Orthodox church built in 1794 (since 1947 rebuilt on a larger scale down the street). St Herman's Seminary stands adjacent to the pastoral school's campus and student housing (for married and unmarried, Alaska natives and non-natives alike). Unlike the main church, photography is permitted inside the seminary.

Leave a Comment

Phone: 907-486-3524
Address: 414 Mission Rd
Directions: almost underneath the Near Island Bridge along the channel
Website: www.alaskanchurch.org/pages/diocese/Institutions/StHermans/index.htm

Icons are an important symbol in the Russian Orthodox Church. The icons inside St Herman's Seminary are the works of master Russian iconographers (the most prominent among them residing in California), who occasionally make visits to the Alaskan dioceses. At present the chapel's interior is largely unembellished, having a simple altar where most of the icons are hung. Elsewhere inside, the wooden walls are only slightly better "proofed" than the exterior.

Leave a Comment

Phone: (907) 486-3524
Address: 414 Mission Rd
Website: www.alaskanchurch.org/pages/diocese/Institutions/StHermans/index.htm