Maybe it was true in the 19th Century, but no one would compare Sitka to Paris today. However, after spending five days here, I have to say “I ❤️ Sitka.” Maybe because it’s been in the 50s, flowers are blooming and there’s not a snow pile in sight, but I think it’s more due to incredible beauty and fascinating history of the town.
Sitka, on the outer coast of Alaska’s Inside Passage, lies at the foot of glacial-carved mountains on Baranof Island facing the Pacific Ocean. With a population of around 10,000, it is the fourth largest city by population in the state. By area, it is the largest city in the United States, four times the size of Rhode Island. I found that hard to believe; turns out water is included as well as various islands. Sitka is accessible only by air or sea. There are 14 miles of roads in Sitka, with the town located right in the middle.
Mount Edgecumbe is a dormant or “historically active” volcano about 15 miles west of Sitka. According to Tlingit legend, it was the smoking beacon that brought the original native Tlingit Indians to Sitka 5,000-10,000 years ago. They called it L’ux, meaning “to flash” or “blinking.” Captain James Cook sailed through the area in 1778 and named it Mount Edgecumbe. It last erupted about 4,000 years ago; however, there was an eruption scare on April 1, 1974. Porky Bickar of Sitka decided to fool his neighbors into thinking the volcano was waking up. He chartered a helicopter from Petersburg AK (local charters passed on the job) to fly over the volcano and dump tires, rags and fuel, starting a fire in the crater. An April Fool message was spray painted on the snow. Porky had thought to alert the FAA and local police but neglected to notify the Coast Guard, who reacted to the black smoke coming from the crater. Alaska Air Lines allowed its flight crews to divert over the crater to watch the fire and view the message. I read nowhere that he got into any trouble for his stunt, which seems incredible to me, but there you go. In any case, Mount Edgecumbe is a stunning sight which can be seen from many parts of Sitka.
The Tongass National Forest is the largest forest in the national forest system and the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest. At 17 million acres, it encompasses nearly the entire Southeast Alaskan panhandle. Sal and I walked forest trails most days and we were awed by the beauty of the huge trees, the Sitka spruce, many moss-covered or dripping with a Spanish moss look alike thing called Old Man’s Beard. Sitka spruce can grow up to 330 feet tall with a trunk diameter that can exceed 16 feet. It is by far the largest species of spruce and the fifth largest conifer in the world, behind the giant sequoia, coast redwood, kauri and western red cedar. Its name is derived from Sitka, where it is prevalent, but it is also found on the western coast of Canada continuing down into Northern California. The trails have reminded me of Muir Woods and the Redwood Forest in California, and my pictures absolutely do not do justice to these woods.
Sitka is rich in history. The Tlingit were here for thousands of years before sea otter fur trade brought the Russians to the area. The Tlingit were warriors and fought the harsh Russian takeover of the land, but following the 1804 Battle of Sitka, the Tlingits were forced to the other side of the island and Sitka became the capital of Russian America, renamed New Archangel. A fort, school, hospital, orphanage and cathedral were built. The Russian Bishop’s House is one of the few surviving examples of Russian Colonial architecture in the US. St. Michael’s Cathedral is the earliest Russian Orthodox Church in America and the green domes and golden crosses are a prominent landmark in downtown Sitka. Castle Hill was the site of the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States. The transition did not go smoothly. On October 18, 1867, 150 Russian troops and 200 American troops, along with Prince Maksutov of Russia, the US representative General Rousseau and other dignitaries, assembled on Castle Hill for the transfer ceremony. The Russian flag became wrapped around the flagpole and could not be lowered. After much tugging, a Russian soldier shimmied up the pole, the flag was ripped off, floated down and became entangled on the bayonets on the Russian rifles. Eyewitness reports say the fiasco was such that Prince Maksutov’s wife fainted. The United States flag was raised with no issues.
The Russian Bishop’s House
St. Michael’s Cathedral
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