Today Wrangell is the quiet one — a working Alaska town the big ships mostly pass by, which is exactly its charm. Its days run on tides and salmon: jet-boat trips up the wild Stikine, low-tide walks among the petroglyphs, totems on Shakes Island, and bears at Anan in season. Our Wrangell designs gather that into wearable form. Wear the history. Three flags, one river town.
Start with the river and the people. The Stikine pours out of the Coast Mountains into the islands of the Inside Passage, and the Stikine Tlingit built their life around it — fishing, trading inland, and carving the totems the town is still known for. When the Russians arrived to guard the fur trade, Chief Shakes moved the Tlingit village to Shakes Island in the heart of today's harbor, beside the new redoubt. The island was named, like the town, for Baron Ferdinand von Wrangel, the Russian-American Company governor. The Hudson's Bay Company soon leased the Stikine country and flew the British flag over Fort Stikine; the lease ran until 1867, when the United States bought Alaska and a year later raised a third flag over Fort Wrangell.
Why People Visit Wrangell
Wrangell rewards the off-the-path traveler. It pairs living Tlingit culture with easy reach of the Stikine and bear country, and you can see totems, petroglyphs, and a working harbor in a single walkable day. It feels authentic, green, and quietly adventurous — an Alaska town that stayed itself — with year-round appeal in its trails, parks, and waterfront.
