Kodiak Alaska — Retro Vintage History

What's with Kodiak? Kodiak is Alaska's Emerald Isle — first capital of Russian Alaska, home port of a huge fishing fleet, and the only home of Earth's biggest brown bears. It sits on Chiniak Bay at the edge of Alaska's largest island — the second-largest in the United States — green under near-constant cloud, ten hours by ferry from the road system and perfectly content about it.

Where you're from. Where you love. Where you explored. Where you belong.

The island's human story is one of the longest in Alaska. Alutiiq — Sugpiaq — people have lived on the Kodiak Archipelago for more than seven thousand years, masters of the skin kayak and the rich, rough water, and their descendants are here still: the Alutiiq Museum in town holds one of the deepest archaeological records in the state, and the city's own Alutiiq name, Sun'aq, is older than every other name it has carried. Vitus Bering's expedition sighted the island in 1741; the Russians who followed came for sea otter fur, and the century that followed was brutal for the people who had always lived here — a history the island tells plainly today.

Russian Alaska began here. In 1784, Grigory Shelikhov planted Russia's first permanent settlement in Alaska at Three Saints Bay, on the island's south end; in 1792, Alexander Baranov moved the post north to a deep, defensible harbor he named Pavlovskaya Gavan — Paul's Harbor — and made it the capital of Russian America's fur empire. Today's Kodiak grew straight from that harbor, and its Russian layer is the deepest in the state: the c. 1808 Russian-American Magazin, now the Baranov Museum, stands among the oldest Russian buildings in America.

The faith the Russians brought outlasted the fur company. The Holy Resurrection parish, founded in 1794, is the oldest Russian Orthodox parish in North America, and its most beloved figure — the gentle monk Herman of Spruce Island, defender of the Alutiiq against the company's abuses — was canonized in Kodiak in 1970 as Saint Herman of Alaska, the first Orthodox saint of the Americas. His relics rest in the church downtown, and pilgrims still cross to Spruce Island every August.

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.

What's with the Bear Protocol of Kodiak? This is bear country, and the landscape asks for respect: brushy edges, salmon streams, and big quiet spaces where wildlife has the right of way. Bear Protocol is the nickname for the everyday habits that keep people smart, from making noise on trails to keeping food sealed and camps clean. A quick cue is the silence check: if birds go quiet and the wind stills at once, you slow down and scan, because the woods just changed. That is awareness, not fear. With rain on spruce and mountains close, the protocol feels like common sense written into the air, every day, always now.

Fishing is the island's bloodstream. Kodiak is home port to one of the largest and most diversified fishing fleets in America — several hundred boats working salmon, halibut, cod, and the famous red king crab — and the harbor consistently ranks among the top fishing ports in the United States by volume. The canneries along the channel have processed the catch for over a century; the Crab Festival every May throws the town's biggest party; and when the fleet is in, the harbor is a forest of masts.

And then there are the bears. The Kodiak brown bear — taquka'aq in Alutiiq, Ursus arctos middendorffi to science — is the largest brown bear on Earth, found only on this archipelago: big males can top 1,500 pounds standing ten feet tall, fattened on salmon runs and berry slopes. About 3,500 of them share the island with the town, most inside the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, which has protected two-thirds of the island since 1941. Bear viewing — by floatplane, boat, or guided hike — is the island's signature wild experience.

The modern town wears three uniforms: fisherman's raingear, Coast Guard blue, and rocket-crew white. Base Kodiak is the largest Coast Guard installation in the United States, guarding the most dangerous fishing grounds in the country; the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Narrow Cape has launched rockets over the Gulf since 1998; and Fort Abercrombie's WWII gun emplacements stand in spruce and salmonberry above the sea cliffs, a state park now, remembering the war that first brought the military north.

Our Kodiak logo carries Alaska's distressed bear above "Est. 1959," the year of statehood — the shared retro emblem of our Alaska places, drawn in worn black-and-white like an old crate stamp. Nowhere does the bear mean more than here: on Kodiak it is not a motif but a neighbor. What makes this one Kodiak is everything around it — the Emerald Isle green, the Russian bells, the king crab, and the biggest bears alive.

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.

Kodiak, Alaska — Travel Guide

Visiting Kodiak Alaska Today

Kodiak sits on Chiniak Bay in the Gulf of Alaska, about 250 air miles southwest of Anchorage — a short flight, or the ten-hour ferry from Homer. Summer brings the green that earns the Emerald Isle name (and most of the 300-odd cloudy days); May brings the Crab Festival; fall fattens the bears. Pack rain gear in every season and plans that can flex with the weather.

Bears, Russian Bells & the Working Harbor

For visitors searching for things to do in Kodiak, Alaska:

• Go bear viewing in the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge — floatplane, boat, or guided hike to watch the biggest brown bears on Earth work a salmon stream.
• Walk the Russian layer downtown: the Baranov Museum in the c. 1808 Magazin, the Holy Resurrection church and Saint Herman's relics, and the Alutiiq Museum's 7,000-year story.
• Hike Fort Abercrombie State Historical Park — WWII gun emplacements in the spruce above the cliffs — and Pillar Mountain over town.
• Fish the famous water: charters for halibut and salmon, the Buskin River run, and the harbor's forest of masts.
• Ride out to Narrow Cape for the spaceport road, surf-watching, and buffalo on the hills.
• Ferry or floatplane to the wild edges — Shuyak Island's kayak country and Spruce Island's pilgrim trail.

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.

Where you're from. Where you love. Where you explored. Where you belong.

Kindred Cities

Greetings, friends from Old Harbor — Nuniaq — the village that keeps the beginning.

Kodiak's kindred town is its own elder sibling down the coast. Old Harbor sits beside Three Saints Bay, where Russian Alaska began in 1784 before Baranov moved the capital north to Paul's Harbor — so the little Alutiiq village of a couple hundred people holds the older claim, and the city of Kodiak carries the bigger story that grew from it. Same archipelago, same salmon, same bears; one kept the site, one became the town.

Come up from Old Harbor and Kodiak is the metropolis — a harbor of masts, Russian bells, and a Coast Guard runway — but the weather makes no distinctions and the taquka'aq walk where they please in both places. Come and visit us soon.

When you plan the trip, Discover Kodiak — the island's official visitor bureau — is the place to start.

Where you're from. Where you love. Where you explored. Where you belong.

For deeper reading on Kodiak Island, Alaska history described here — the centuries of Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) stewardship of Sun'aq for at least 7,000 years, the 1741 Vitus Bering and Aleksei Chirikov sighting of Kodiak during the Second Kamchatka Expedition, the 1763 Stepan Glotov landing as the first Russian on the island, the 1784 Grigory Shelikhov founding of Three Saints Bay as the first permanent Russian settlement in North America, the 1792 Alexander Baranov relocation of the Russian settlement to Pavlovskaya Gavan (Paul's Harbor) and the founding of Kodiak as the first capital of Russian Alaska, the 1794 arrival of the first Russian Orthodox spiritual mission to North America including Saint Herman of Alaska on Spruce Island and the founding of Holy Resurrection parish at Kodiak as the oldest Russian Orthodox parish in the Americas, the 1799 charter of the Russian-American Company with Baranov as Chief Manager, the 1804 transfer of the Russian capital from Kodiak to Sitka, the circa-1808 construction of the Russian-American Company magazin at Kodiak as today's Baranov Museum and the oldest Russian-era wooden structure in Alaska, the October 18 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia by the United States, the June 6-8 1912 Novarupta-Katmai volcanic eruption as the largest volcanic eruption of the twentieth century globally that buried Kodiak under up to eighteen inches of ash with residents evacuated to the U.S. Revenue Cutter Manning, the 1939-1941 construction of Fort Abercrombie and Naval Operating Base Kodiak, the 1940 incorporation of the City of Kodiak, the 1942-1945 WWII Aleutian Campaign service of Kodiak as a major U.S. Navy and Coast Guard base, the March 27 1964 Good Friday M9.2 Great Alaska Earthquake as the largest ever recorded in North America and the thirty-foot tsunami waves that leveled downtown Kodiak with fifteen killed and eleven million dollars in damage, the 1968 emergence of Kodiak as the #1 U.S. fishing port by dollar value after the post-1964 rebuild, the 1970 canonization of Saint Herman of Alaska as the first Orthodox saint of North America and patron saint of Alaska, the 1971 Coast Guard assumption of the former Naval Operating Base as today's Coast Guard Base Kodiak as the largest U.S. Coast Guard installation by area, the 1972 incorporation of Koniag, Inc. under ANCSA, the January 3 1959 Alaska statehood as the 49th state of the Union, the 1995 opening of the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository as the active cultural-revitalization institution preserving and interpreting more than 7,000 years of Alutiiq culture, and the modern working-harbor era as one of the top U.S. fishing ports and the largest Coast Guard installation by area — it may be useful to consult (1) the Alaska State Library Historical Collections in Juneau and the Alaska Historical Society Journal for the Russian-era Kodiak records and the long-running Alaska scholarly literature, (2) the Alaska State Archives in Juneau for the territorial-era municipal records, (3) the Kodiak History Museum (Baranov Museum) on Marine Way for the Russian-American Company magazin records, the Erskine House era documentation, and the Kodiak Historical Society collections, (4) the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository on Mission Road for the 7,000-plus years of Alutiiq cultural and archaeological collections, (5) the Library of Congress and the National Archives for the Russian-American Company records and 1867 Alaska Purchase documents, (6) the Bishop Museum in Honolulu and the Naval History and Heritage Command for the Pacific-region and 1942-1945 Aleutian Campaign records (Kodiak served as a major U.S. Navy base during WWII), (7) the U.S. Geological Survey for the 1912 Novarupta-Katmai eruption records and the March 27 1964 Good Friday Earthquake records, (8) the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Alaska and Saint Herman's Orthodox Theological Seminary for the Holy Resurrection parish records and the Saint Herman of Alaska hagiographic and canonization records, (9) the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge and Kodiak brown bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi) records, and (10) the University of Alaska Anchorage Consortium Library for the Alaska-statewide historical and biological-survey literature including the C.H. Merriam taxonomic records. For deeper local Kodiak Island research, it may be useful to reach out to (1) the Kodiak History Museum (Baranov Museum), (2) the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, (3) the Kodiak Historical Society, (4) Koniag, Inc. (the Alaska Native Regional Corporation representing the Alutiiq people of the Kodiak Archipelago), (5) the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Alaska, (6) Saint Herman's Orthodox Theological Seminary, and (7) the Alaska State Library Historical Collections. For travel and visitor information in Kodiak, it may be useful to contact (1) the Kodiak Island Convention and Visitors Bureau (Discover Kodiak), (2) the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce, (3) the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, (4) the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Kodiak office for sport-fishing, hunting, and bear-viewing permit information, (5) Alaska State Parks for Fort Abercrombie State Historical Park, (6) the Alaska Marine Highway System for ferry-route information from Homer to Kodiak, and (7) Kodiak Benny Benson State Airport for jet-service information. Readers interested in the broader cultural reception of Kodiak Island and its Russian-Alaska-first-capital identity — the centuries of Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) heritage as continuous stewards of the archipelago for at least 7,000 years, the 1741 Bering-Chirikov sighting, the 1763 Glotov landing, the 1784 Three Saints Bay founding by Shelikhov, the 1792 Baranov founding of Pavlovskaya Gavan as the first capital of Russian Alaska, the 1794 Saint Herman arrival and Holy Resurrection parish founding, the 1799 Russian-American Company charter, the 1804 Sitka capital transfer, the circa-1808 Baranov Museum construction, the 1867 Alaska Purchase, the 1912 Novarupta eruption, the 1939-1941 Fort Abercrombie and Naval Operating Base Kodiak construction, the 1942-1945 WWII Aleutian Campaign service, the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake and tsunami, the 1968 #1-U.S.-fishing-port era, the 1970 Saint Herman canonization, the 1971 Coast Guard Base assumption, the 1995 Alutiiq Museum opening, and the modern Emerald-Isle working-harbor era — will find that the named places (Kodiak Island, the Kodiak Archipelago, Three Saints Bay, Pavlovskaya Gavan / Paul's Harbor, Chiniak Bay, St. Paul Harbor, the Baranov Museum, Holy Resurrection Cathedral, Spruce Island, the Alutiiq Museum, Fort Abercrombie, Coast Guard Base Kodiak, Pillar Mountain, the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, Shelikof Strait, the Gulf of Alaska, Sitka, Seward, Anchorage, Homer, and the Aleutian Subduction Zone), the named historical figures (Alexander Baranov, Grigory Shelikhov, Saint Herman of Alaska, Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, Stepan Glotov, and C.H. Merriam), and the named historical moments (the centuries of Alutiiq stewardship, the 1741 Bering sighting, the 1784 Three Saints Bay founding, the 1792 Kodiak founding, the 1794 Orthodox mission and parish, the 1799 Russian-American Company charter, the 1804 capital transfer, the circa-1808 Baranov Museum construction, the 1867 Alaska Purchase, the 1912 Novarupta eruption, the 1939-1941 base construction, the 1942-1945 WWII Aleutian Campaign, the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake, the 1968 fishing-port era, the 1970 Saint Herman canonization, the 1971 Coast Guard takeover, the 1995 Alutiiq Museum opening, and the modern working-harbor era) recur across all of these traditions as a shared cultural grammar of foundational Kodiak Island history grounded specifically on the green coast of the Emerald Isle, the second-largest island in the United States, the only place on Earth where the Kodiak brown bear walks.