Southeast Alaska is something of a museum-goer's shopping mall.
Ketchikan, the gateway to Alaska and to Alaska's history:
Ketchikan museums feature the cultures of the Tlingit, the Haida and the Tsimshians. Totem poles carved from tall cedar trunks are found at several locations.
• Tongass Historical Museum on Dock Street. The museum features the history of Native life in the area and of the development of Ketchikan. A deck allows viewing of salmon running upstream. Admission is $3. 907-225-5600.
• Creek Street, the old brothel district. It's now a street of offices and shops. Look for the Dolly's House museum and for the city's famous salmon sculpture.
• Totem Heritage Center, 601 Deermount St. The center features the nation's largest exhibit of original totem poles, which were removed from deserted Tlingit and Haida villages. Admission is $4 for tourists, free for residents of the Ketchikan area.
• Totem Bight State Park. There are 14 totems and historical buildings.
• The Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, 50 Main St. There are Native culture exhibits, ecosystems, a rain forest walk and a discussion of resources.
• In nearby Saxman, the Totem Park has 30 totems. The park is free to visit, but there is a charge for a guided tour. 907-225-4846.
Metlakatla, on Annette Island, is on the state's only federal Indian reservation.
• The Duncan Museum was named for William Duncan, a lay minister who came to the island with Tsimshian Indians after a dispute with his church in British Columbia. He built a salmon cannery and sawmill.
Wrangell, on Wrangell Island, is a stop on cruise lines, keeping alive its tradition of being a crossroads.
• The Wrangell Museum, 318 Church St., has displays on how the town was influenced by Tlingit, Russian, British, Chinese, Japanese and American cultures. There are also a Tlingit spruce canoe and exhibits on gold, timber, fishing and trapping. 907-874-3770. Click here to write for more information.
• Our Collections Museum, on Evergreen Avenue. The museum is owned by Elva Bigelow, a long-time resident of Wrangell. There are antiques and memorabilia from Wrangell and the Stikine River. 907-874-3646.
• Petroglyphs, or a kind of museum carved into black slate, were left perhaps 8,000 years ago. There are 20 of them on a point a half-mile off Evergreen Avenue. Some petroglyphs were moved to the Wrangell Museum.
Petersburg, on Mitkof Island, is a fishing town.
• The Clausen Museum reveals community life through furniture, photos and personal possessions, as well as canning equipment, Tlingit artifacts, and a fish sculpture.
Sitka, on Baranof Island, was the capital of Russian America until 1867, when they gave up on trapping, took $7.2 million from the United States and went back across the Pacific Ocean.
• The Isabel Miller Museum, in Harrigan Centennial Hall, tells the history of Sitka. There are Russian tools, a diorama, paintings and an exhibit about the Alaska Purchase. The museum, at 330 Harbor Drive, is operated by the Sitka Historical Society. 907-747-6455. Admission is free.
• Saint Peter's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, 611 Lincoln St., was consecrecrated at "The Cathedral of Alaska" in 1900. The church is on the National Historic Register.
• The Sitka Lutheran Church, 224 Lincoln St., was, in 1840, the first Protestant church on the Pacific coast. There are tours.
• Sitka National Historical Park is at the site of a watershed Russian-Tlingit battle in 1804, when the Russians under Alexander Baranof avenged the rout that sent them packing two years earlier. There are totem poles and Tlingit exhibits. North of town is Old Sitka, which was the site of the first Russian settlement in 1779. It then was known as Fort Archangel Michael. Tlingits destroyed the fort in 1802.
• The Sheldon Jackson Museum, 104 College Drive on the campus of Sheldon Jackson College, has Native arts and crafts. Much of the collection was gathered by Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson. An aquarium is also on the campus.
• The O'Connell Bridge linking Baranof Island to Japonski Island is the first cable-stayed, girder-span bridge in the United States. The span, 1,225 feet long, was dedicated in 1972.
Juneau is the state capital and was founded at the site of an extravagantly rich gold discovery.
• The Alaska State Museum, 395 Whittier St., is the official state repository and features items regarding Natives, mining, sea history and natural history. There is a children's room. Admission is $4, with children under 18 free. 907-465-2901.
• The Juneau-Douglas City Museum is across from Capitol. Exhibits look at Juneau through the stereoscope, Tlingit waterways, local pioneers and gold mining. There is a kids' area. Admission is $3. 907-586-3572.
• The Last Chance Mining Museum, 1001 Basin Road, has original tools, machines and the guts of what was once the world's largest hard-rock gold mine. A tour visits labs, dormitories and locomotive repair shops. $3. 907-586-5338.
• The House of Wickersham, at 213 Seventh St., sits as it was when federal District Judge James Wickersham bought it in 1928. Wickersham helped bring law to Alaska, was instrumental in making Eagle and Fairbanks important cities. As a delegate to Congress, he played key roles in starting the Alaska Railroad, getting recognition for what became Mount McKinley National Park (now Denali) and bringing about statehood. Wickersham died in 1939.
• An underground mining tour is available at the at A-J Mine. The tour visits the ore-crushing plant and lets visitors examine photos and artifacts. Tours can be arranged at 907-463-3900.
Haines has a history involving Natives, missionaries and the military.
• The Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center, 11 Main St., sits at the former Haines Mission, a Presbyterian mission to the Tlingits founded in 1881. The town of Haines was named after Francina Haines, who raised money as secretary of the Presbyterian Women's Executive Socity of Home Missions. The museum discusses pioneer history and the culture of Tlingits, who lived in the area before trappers and adventurers arrived from Europe and the United States. There are Chilkat blankets, Russian trunks, and the Eldred Rock Lighthouse lens. Fort William H. Seward sits nearby.
Skagway, home of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, is the rugged trail head of the Chilkoot Trail to the Klondike gold fields.
• The Corrington Musem of Alaska History, at Fifth Street and Broadway, has 40 exhibits featuring historic scenes engraved -- scrimshaw -- into walrus tusks. 907-983-2580.
• The Skagway Museum & Archives, on Seventh Avenue in the McCabe Building. The historic granite structure, built in 1899 and 1900 as a Methodist college-prep school and later sold to the federal government, now houses the Skagway Museum and Archives, as well as city offices and the state court. 907-983-2420.
