Alaska's parks

Sitka National Historical Park

Site honors battles, co-existence between Tlingits and Russians

By Leon Unruh / Alaska.com

All that remains of the battle is the site of the fort, Redoubt Archangel Michael. The surroundings are largely unchanged.

Tlingits lived alone on the island until the Russians arrived in 1799 and established a fort north of what is now Sitka. The Tlingits attacked the fur-trading outpost in 1802, killing nearly all of the Russians and their Aleut slaves. Two years later, Alexander Baranof, the manager of the Russian-American Co., attacked with the cannons aboard the Neva, and after a six-day battle the Tlingits slipped away.

The Russians renamed the settlement New Archangel. The Russian Orthodox Church replaced Tlingit housing with its own on Castle Hill in present-day Sitka.

By the middle of the 19th century, overhunting made the sea otter harvest less profitable and reduced the Russians’ interest in Alaska. The Russians' eventual decision to sell far-off Alaska may have been influenced by uprisings at home; the start of a war to conquer central Asia; and by the United States' Monroe Doctrine, stated in 1823, which warned European powers not to interfere further in the Americas. Also, the United States was going through an expansionist era.

In March 1867, the Russians sold the Alaska territory to the United States for $7.2 million. A transfer ceremony took place in Sitka on Oct. 18.

Northwest Coast totem poles and the rain forest are combined on the two miles of coastal trails within the park, which is southeast of downtown Sitka. John Brady, a district governor of Alaska, brought a collection of totem poles to Sitka in 1905; they had been rounded up originally and displayed in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1903. These histories carved in cedar were rounded up from villages throughout southeastern Alaska. None of the originals came from Sitka, although they're in the local Tlingit tradition. Many poles are copies of deteriorating originals now in storage.

The visitor center contains ethnographic exhibits and houses the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center, where visitors can watch Native artists at work.

The Russian Bishop's House is one of four surviving examples of Russian colonial architecture in North America. This original 1843 log structure conveys the Russian legacy through exhibits, refurbished living quarters and the Chapel of the Annunciation.

Also at the park, the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center was established in 1969 to impart the cultural values of Southeast Alaska Native Culture to students and visitors. The center achieves this goal by providing a place for local Sitka Tlingits to teach themselves about their own culture, while also helping park visitors understand the Native people, whose history is part of the Park story. Although it is housed in the visitor center, the cultural center is an independent, non-profit Native organization.

The visitors center at Sitka National Historical Park visitors center is closed for remodeling through the 2001 tourist season. The rest of the park is open.

Camping is available at two U.S. Forest Service campgrounds and an RV park. The campground at Starrigavan Bay, northwest of town, has an artesian well and campsites along the bay and a salmon stream. Camping costs $8 a night. The Sawmill Creek campground, south of town, is free but primitive. The Forest Service also maintains 24 cabins in the Sitka area.