GLACIER BAY NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE
A 3.3 million-acrepark and preserve located near the northern end of the Inside Passage of Southeast Alaska, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is near the community of Gustavus.
FOR MORE INFORMATION SEE - National Parks:Glacier Bay
HAINES
Once the first army post in Alaska, Haines is located on the shores of the USA’s longest, deepest fjord, the Lynn Canal.
Haines is full of history, culture, and nature.
The Alaska Bald Eagle Festival celebrates the 4,000 Bald Eagles that flock to Haines for the salmon spawning in the Chilkat River and the Chilkat State Park offers a feast of wildlife and nature.
Haines too has a rich tradition of Native culture and visitors can experience Native heritage in many ways. The Chilkat Dancers & Storytelling Theater provide a glimpse of ancient legends in living color, and The Sheldon Museum has an impressive collection of Chilkat Blankets and is a wealth of information for those interested in the history of the local Chilkat and Chilkoot tribes.
Known as an artists' haven, Haines has numerous art galleries where, visitors can find beautiful pieces of Native artwork, from intricately carved jewelry to limited edition prints, hand-carved masks and basketry.
JUNEAU
At the base of grand mountain peaks and at the pristine waterfront of the Gastineau Channel, Juneau, Alaska's capital city, is a popular cruise destination offering everything from outdoor adventure to cultural attractions.
With the over one million cruise visitors each year, the glaciers are a favorite attraction and are accessible with hiking trails, float planes and helicopters.
For those more interested in culture, the Alaska State Museum showcases Native art and artifacts, gold rush memorabilia, Russian relics and wildlife displays. The Juneau-Douglas City Museum traces the development of the Juneau and Douglas region, from ancient Tlingit tribes to turn-of-the-century mining corporations to modern-day tour companies.
Juneau also is rich in Tlingit culture, specifically art – totem poles, carvings, weaving, jewelry and demonstrations. Many of Juneau's public and private business and buildings are decorated with Tlingit art, and the local Native corporation owns and operates visitor attractions and activities in Juneau as well as Glacier Bay National Park and Glacier Bay Cruise line.
At the Mt Roberts Tram, also Native-owned, visitors can view the award winning film "Seeing Daylight," a celebration of Tlingit culture and history.
KETCHIKAN
A popular destination along Alaska's famed Inside Passage, Ketchikan is known as Alaska's Native Cultural Center and Sport Fishing Capital. Historical tours include the Creek Street tour which winds through the old boardwalk red-light district and Dolly’s House Museum, and boat tours of the city built on "stilts" to secluded bootlegger coves of Gold Rush days.
Ketchikan also has several local attractions that beckon those interested in coastal Native cultures. The Saxman Native Village features elaborately carved totem poles, and a chance to view Native artisans as they carve totems, canoes, and other unique representations of their traditional lifestyle
For an insight into the more recent past, visitors can tour the George Inlet Cannery and see how salmon were harvested en masse from the sea, and how the fishing industry has changed to meet the demands of the contemporary market place. At the Deer Mountain Tribal Hatchery and Eagle Center, visitors can watch a salmon hatchery in operation, and see how it serves the needs of modern-day tribal members.
At the Eagle Center tourists can see injured bald eagles nursed back to health and, when possible, rereleased into the wild
KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK
Stretching from the Southeast Alaska community of Skagway north along the Canadian border, the 13,191 acres of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park is dedicated to the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1898 that includes the town of Skagway and surrounding historic areas.
SITKA
Located on the west side of Baranof Island, and considered Alaska's most beautiful seaside town, Sitka displays a past unique in its blend of Tlingit culture and Russian history.
Attractions include the Isabel Miller Museum with exhibits from the time when Sitka was the capital of the District of Alaska, and the Russian Bishop’s House, one of only four surviving examples of Russian Colonial Style architecture in the Western Hemisphere.
St. Michael’s Cathedral, a bright blue, onion-domed Russian Orthodox Church, and another major attraction, dominates Sitka’s skyline.
Sitka is also home to Sitka National Historic Park, which houses an impressive collection of totem poles. Visitors to the park can wander forested trails while learning about stories the poles tell.
If visitors get their timing right, they can attend the Sitka Summer Music Festival. Held every year in June, it emphasizes chamber music and attracts an international group of professional musicians.
SKAGWAY
One of the Inside Passage’s most popular towns, historic Skagway brings the Gold Rush era alive with Broadway, a street from yesteryear, and the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad, a steep, narrow-gauge railroad following much the same route as the gold miners on their way to the Klondike Gold Rush.
WRANGELL
Located on the coast of the Inside Passage, the town of Wrangell holds the distinction of being the only Alaskan city to have existed under four nations and three flags – the Stikine Tlingits, the Russians, Great Britain and the United States.
The Wrangell Museum features cultural exhibits, such as the oldest known Tlingit housepost in Southeast Alaska, a rare spruce canoe and spruce root and cedar bark basket collections.
But Wrangell is best known for its impressive collection of petroglyphs. The Alaska State Park at Petroglyph Beach features a newly constructed, fully accessible wooden boardwalk where guests can make rubbings from reproduced petroglyphs.
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