The twentieth century tested the town twice. In June 1912 the Novarupta eruption — the largest of the century, across Shelikof Strait near Mount Katmai — buried Kodiak under a foot and a half of ash and turned midday to midnight for three days. Then on March 27, 1964, the Good Friday earthquake — magnitude 9.2, the strongest ever recorded in North America — sent tsunamis through the harbor that carried the fishing fleet into the streets and destroyed most of downtown. Kodiak rebuilt both times, faster than anyone expected, and the working waterfront you see today is the answer the town gave.
Today Kodiak is Alaska in concentrate — a seven-thousand-year Alutiiq homeland, the first capital of Russian Alaska, a top American fishing port, the Coast Guard's largest base, and bear country without apology. Its story runs from Sun'aq through Three Saints Bay and Paul's Harbor, ash and tsunami, to the harbor forest of masts. Wear a little of the Emerald Isle.
Why People Visit Kodiak Alaska
Kodiak offers Alaska in concentrate — the deepest Russian heritage in the state, a 7,000-year Alutiiq homeland, a top American fishing port, and the only place on Earth to meet the Kodiak bear at home. People come for the bears and the fishing, and find the Emerald Isle: green, rain-washed, and genuinely wild ten minutes from town.
