People had lived on that shore for a very long time. The Sugpiaq and Alutiiq made Resurrection Bay home for more than seven thousand years before Frank and Mary Lowell settled here in the early 1880s. The town itself dates to August 28, 1903, when John Ballaine and a party of pioneers landed to build a railroad north into the resource-rich interior. They named it for William H. Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State who had pushed through the 1867 Alaska Purchase — the deal mocked at the time as ‘Seward's Folly.’ The town belongs to the bay; the name it shares with half a dozen far-off places.
And here is the quiet wonder of the place: the Alaska flag was born in Seward. In 1927 a thirteen-year-old boy named Benny Benson, a resident of the town's Jesse Lee Home, entered a territory-wide design contest with eight gold stars on a field of blue — the Big Dipper for strength, the North Star for Alaska's future. His entry beat 142 others and became, in time, the flag of the state. A memorial in town marks the spot, and few small towns can say they gave a state its flag.
Why People Visit Seward
Seward blends marine science with glacier access and harbor life. Visitors mix easy waterfront walks with boat tours, public art, and museums, all beneath the mountains. It is dramatic, friendly, and photogenic, with year-round appeal in its parks, paths, and public spaces. Frontier railroad history and the wild coast sit side by side here — history and everyday Alaska life together in a welcoming way.
