The American century kept the town small and made it essential. Alaska's first fish cannery opened here in 1878 and the boats never left — fishing remains the biggest industry in town. The territorial capital moved to Juneau in 1906, and Sitka answered with something more durable: the Alaska Native Brotherhood, founded on Katlian Street in 1912. The Navy filled Japonski Island during the Second World War, when the population briefly swelled to forty thousand; statehood came in 1959; the cathedral burned in 1966 and the town rebuilt it dome for dome, having carried the icons out by hand; and in 1972 the O'Connell Bridge — the first cable-stayed bridge in the United States — finally connected the town to its own airport. Every October 18 the flags still change on Castle Hill, in period dress, for Alaska Day — the holiday that was born here.
So Sitka gathers the Paris of the Pacific, the hill where the flags changed, the first cathedral, the first cannery, the first cable-stayed bridge, and the brotherhood that changed Alaska onto one rainforest shore — and our Sitka designs gather that into wearable form. Whether Sitka is your hometown, your harbor, the port your ship called at once, or the town you still mean to come back to, wear the history. Where Russia met America in 1867.
Why People Visit Sitka Alaska
- Visit St. Michael's Cathedral, the 1848 Russian Orthodox cathedral with its iconic green onion-dome and bell tower, the first Russian Orthodox cathedral in North America (the original burned in 1966 and was rebuilt to the original exterior appearance with rescued icons).
- Climb Baranof Castle Hill, the bluff where the formal Alaska Transfer Ceremony took place on October 18, 1867 — the day the Russian flag came down and the American flag went up. Alaska Day is celebrated here every October 18.
- Walk Sitka National Historical Park, the oldest federally designated park in Alaska (established 1910), with totem-pole trails through old-growth coastal rainforest along the Indian River — and the site of the 1804 battle, where a totem honors the Kiks.ádi leader K'alyaán.
- Tour the Russian Bishop's House, the 1842 home of Bishop Innocent — the oldest intact Russian-built building in Sitka and a National Historic Landmark.
- Visit the Sheldon Jackson Museum, the 1895 octagonal concrete building that is the oldest museum in Alaska, holding collections of Alaska Native art and material culture.
- Stop at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall on Katlian Street, built in 1914 — headquarters of the civil-rights organization founded in Sitka in 1912.
- See Mount Edgecumbe, the 3,201-foot dormant stratovolcano on Kruzof Island that frames every view of Sitka Sound.
- Visit the Alaska Raptor Center, the nonprofit rehabilitation facility for injured eagles, hawks, and owls along the Indian River.
- See Fortress of the Bear, the nonprofit rescue and rehabilitation center for orphaned brown and black bear cubs.
- Drive across the O'Connell Bridge, the 1972 span that was the first cable-stayed bridge built in the United States, connecting Sitka to Japonski Island and the airport.
- Attend Sitka WhaleFest the first week of November during the humpback whale migration through Sitka Sound — the festival has been running annually since 1995.
