TUESDAY, JUNE 25

TUESDAY, JUNE 25: 

    Didn’t wake up til waaaay late.  Then made some breakfast.  Guess we used up our quota of bright, sun-shiny days for a while.  Overcast and gray today, all day. 

     Headed into town to get oriented.  Town is about 6.5 miles southeast.  Sitka is definitely bigger than any of the other towns we’ve visited so far.  Even has a McDonalds . . . right on the water!  Sure to win the Best Locale for a McD’s!  Population is around 9,000. 

     Walked around town some.  A couple of the historical sites were closed, but we were told that they’d be open tomorrow and Thursday for “cruise boat days.”  So we just explored what we could on our own, which was just fine, since we were still feeling a little groggy.   From what we’ve seen so far, it’s a very charming town.  With some nice shops; we were  lured into a few, which we very infrequently do.  Even bought a couple of pieces of clothing, and a Christmas ornament.

     Happened onto the Lutheran church.  Not only is it the oldest Lutheran church in Alaska, it’s the oldest Protestant church on the entire west coast in North America.  It was chartered by the Czar himself in 1840, when Russia was enlisting Finnish workers to work in the Russian American colony here (mainly in the sea otter fur trade).  The town already had a Russian Orthodox church, but since the Fins were mainly Lutheran, the Czar granted special permission for this one Lutheran church only to be built in a particular site in Sitka.  And even though it’s gone thru 2 fires and re-buildings, the church building hasn’t changed its site!  The original Finnish pastor made the long boat ride from Finland, down around South America (no Panama Canal yet), and up the entire west coast of the Americas. I believe it took him 9 months.  The church contains original artifacts from that first church which came over with the pastor – the communion rail, for one.

 

     In 1844, a pipe organ built in Estonia was shipped over.  That has been through 1 fire (for some reason, was at another location when the first fire in 1966 destroyed much of the downtown area) and partially re-built where needed.  The very nice & affable docent let Bill sit down and play it.

 A fun side note is that the “docent” and his wife are volunteers for this – the church has been using summer volunteers as guides for a number of years now – and this couple is from San Diego and have spent a lot of time in Santee Lakes, where we stayed last summer.  They love to walk there, they said, and have camped there as well.  They said that they always requested a particular campsite because they thought it was the nicest one there – it could have been the one we stayed in! 

    The site had a lot of history prior to that.  It was first a Tlingit fortress for a long time.  Then the Russians came in the late 18^th century.  The Tlingits were wary of their presence and were afraid of being made slaves in the sea otter trapping business, so they attacked the Russians first settlement in 1802 and killed nearly everyone.  The Russians returned with a vengeance two years later, with 4 battle ships, and defeated and drove off the Natives in a fierce battle. They then established the headquarters for their Russian American Company there on that hill, including a house for the “CEO” of the company (the first one was Alexander Baranoff, after whom the island is named).  A few decades and Company managers/governors later, the inevitable happened and the chief honcho’s residence got bigger and grander . . .  hence the name Castle Hill.  On a clear day, it should offer beautiful views.  But today wasn’t one.

     When the Tlingits returned to the area a couple of decades later, the two cultures had an uneasy peace, enforced by embankments and  Block  Houses which  the Russians built to separate the two communities. 

 

 

 Came home & had leftover brats & sides.  Started to drizzle rain.  Went to bed early.