Alaska or Bust: Revisited: Juneau to Sitka, AK Part 1 (7/14/2017)

Day 31
Friday, July 14, 2017
Originally, we were planning on taking the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry from Juneau to Sitka and back in one day, with limited time in Sitka. And then spend a full day in Juneau before boarding the ferry again to head down the Inner Passage.
However, when Jan & Kirby made plans to intersect with ours, we decided to take that ferry to Sitka, but stay the full day there with Jan & Kirby, before taking the ferry down the Inner Passage.
We were at the Auke Bay ferry terminal at 6:00 to check in for the 8:00 departure with our car. Jan & Kirby would also be on this ferry.

Boarding the FVF Fairweather fast ferry again, this time for Sitka, AK

Another cloud covered day as we leave Auke Bay (KSS)

Passing a fishing boat (KSS)

View from the ferry lounge; keep the red buoys to the right! (KSS)

Passing through the Alexander Archipelago of islands

It was raining as we arrived at 12:30 in Sitka, AK

We had lunch at the Cable House, at the new Beak Restaurant that had
replaced the Larkspur Café we were hoping to experience

The Beak Restaurant gave us one of our more memorable meals: salmon chowder with a cheese scone and a yummy salmon macaroni and cheese, and it is also gratuity-free (in other words, the service charge is included in the menu price).
Jan & Kirby went to check into the Totem Square Hotel (which does not provide a shuttle to/from the ferry, but does provide one to the airport, humph!) and we went on our walking tour.

The Baranov Totem (1941-1942, restored 2011)
in Totem Square, depicts Baranov at the top on a
Russian bear, and lower is the double eagle
imperial crest that was given to the Sitka Natives

View of Sitka from Totem Square

Sitka's Pioneer Bar, the "vintage Alaska" place to find locals,
and the ubiquitous Asian restaurant

Sheet'ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi/Sitka Community House,
a modern Tlingit clan house

Alaska Pioneer Home (1934) founded for Gold Rush veterans,
men over 65 years of age who had lived in Alaska for 15 or more years

The Prospector (1942, by Victor Alonzo Lewis)
was purchased for the Alaska Pioneers Home
in 1947 and dedicated in 1949

The 4 m/13' bronze statue has a face modeled on William "Skagway Bill" Fonda, an adventurer who blazed trails in Alaska before the Klondike gold rush.

Replica Russian blockhouse at the site
of the stockade that separated the
Russians from the Tlingits

Sitka, AK has had an interesting history. The area had long been settled by the Tlingits, who had developed the most advanced culture of any of the Alaska Natives.
In 1741, a Russian ship sent longboats to the island to get water, and the longboats never returned. The Russians returned in 1799, when Alexander Baranov established a fort, Redount Archangel Michael, for sea otter trade. Three years later the Tlingits burned down the fort. Baranov returned in 1804 with a warship, and bombarded the Tlingit fort at Sitka. It took three days before the Tlingits surrendered, and the Natives deserted their fort, which was then destroyed.
The Russians established the settlement of New Archangel and the Tlingits bolstered a fort they had on the strait side of the island to enforce a trade embargo with the Russians. While Baranov was still governor of New Archangel, it was designated the capital of Russian America in 1808, and was the center of the Russian American Company trade dealings. By 1834, the Tlingits started moving back to the area, and the Russians built a stockade with blockhouses to protect themselves.
After Russia lost the Crimean War in 1856, they decided to sell Alaska and found a willing buyer in the United States! Sitka was the site of the transfer ceremony on 10/18/1867.
Sitka was the territorial Alaska capital until 1906.

The Lutheran Cemetery and grave of Princess Maksoutoff,
the wife of the last Russian governor in Sitka

Princess Maksoutoff's gravestone
(note Cyrillic lettering)

Driftwood fence

The Russian Cemetery, although overgrown by nature,
is still an active cemetery

Russian Cemetery

Raven communicating with the universe

The Corvus corax/Ravens of Alaska... They are so noisy and have a squawk that sounds like a human crying out, not so much in fright, but more of frustration like what I would write as "aargh!" At first we weren't sure if the sound was of kids playing at a campground where we were staying, and we were afraid the ravens would keep calling all night (they did not).

Sitka Lutheran Church with artifacts from 1843 Finnish Lutheran Church
that was built for the Scandinavians who worked for the Russian American
Company, and was the first Protestant church built on the Pacific Coast

A Russian Santa Claus carving at the
Grandfather Frost Russian Christmas Store (KSS)

The centerpiece of Sitka, as it sits right in the middle
of the street, is St Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral
(original built 1844-1848, burned in 1966, rebuilt 1976)

Father Ioann Veniaminov of the Russian Orthodox Church was sent to Alaska in 1824, and in 1834 he was transferred to Sitka. Fr Veniaminov became familiar with the local Native dialects, and devised an alphabet for the most widely used dialect. He had portions of the Bible and other religious readings translated into that dialect. He also taught Russian building techniques to the Natives and they constructed his churches. After his wife died, Fr Veniaminov became a monk, Fr Innocent. He has since been sainted.

Interior of St Michael's Cathedral, with all the icons
and treasures saved from the original church

Artifacts from the original church

Mitre and chalice of Bishop Innocent Veniaminov (KSS)

Prayer candle holder with an oil candle

The venerated Lady of Sitka icon behind
prayer candles, the icon is attributed to
Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky

The Royal Doors (original) leading to the central chapel

Old Harbor Books (1996) with its Chandler & Price
10x15 Platen Letterpress circa 1895 from Cleveland, OH,
which is still in use today

Guidebooks said not to miss the map section...

Building 29 or the Tilson Building (1835), one of the few
remaining buildings from the Russian era

Russian American Company (1980 - has no ties with the original
Russian American Company), was until 1991 the only shop in Alaska
to sell authentic Russian folk art and handicrafts; they also
have a display case of Tsarist-era antiques and even Fabergé items

Baranov's Castle Hill, originally covered with Native clan houses,
then in 1836 the Governor's House (called Baranov's Castle, burned
in 1894), which was the site of the transfer of Alaska to the Americanas

The Russian cannon in the photo above is aimed at the cruise ship! Cruise ships dominated the harbors of all the southeastern Alaska coastal cities.