Alaska Trip - Petersburg (Part 1)

Are you ready for some more Alaska photos? I hope so! 

Our small boat cruise on the Inside Passage this summer started its itinerary in Petersburg. It was a treat to see this small and vibrant Alaskan town and amble around a while before our voyage. The big cruise ships don’t come here because they can't navigate the narrow waterways. A commercial flight might once a day during the summer months. This quaint town, nestled in the forested mountains of Mitkof Island, is not a tourist mecca. Petersburg is a busy fishing village. And therein lies its charm. 

Fishing boats of all shapes and sizes are docked here, and zig in and out of the harbor. Some vessels even have their own watchdog! 

A Norwegian pioneer arrived in the area in 1890. He built the Icy Strait Packing Company cannery, sawmill, and a dock. Ice from a local glacier was used to pack fish. The town grew from those humble beginnings and was incorporated in 1910.  Its 3100 year-round residents are primarily descendants from Scandinavian countries and Tlingit Native Americans. Alaska’s first shrimp processor, Alaska Glacier Seafoods, was founded here in 1916, and it started Petersburg’s cannery. The cannery facility has operated continuously since then and is now known as Petersburg Fisheries. 

I thought that the boathouses around the harbor were charming, such as this rustic red one. 

One boathouse was painted a pale turquoise shade, giving a color play contrast with its rust-colored roof and adjacent tall grasses. 

From a distance, this building provided a well-defined reflection in the water at low tide. 

Strings of nautical floats hung on some of the buildings, adorning them like decorative necklaces. 

And this was my favorite boathouse of all, labeled as the “man cave!” There is some serious whimsy going on here, with axes and picks stored on the back deck and fake propellers stuck in the old log supports. 

Check back later for more posts and photos of this Alaskan town!