Alaska Museums in Port Towns

[Will Work for Tiramisu]

Folks,

My DW & I will be cruising round trip from Seward - Vancouver - Seward on Silversea in 2024.  This is two back-to-back 7 day trips, but they stop at different ports coming & going, so we get to see 8 different towns, in addition to Anchorage, where we will fly in and take the train to the ship at Seward.  We aren't new to cruising, but we haven't been to Alaska before, which has been a major bucket list item, so we're excited, and want to make the best of it.  We've had mixed results taking tours arranged through the cruise lines, some very good, some abysmal, and everything between.  Much has to do with the luck of the draw regarding who is leading the tour.  On this trip, our main interest is in seeing the spectacular scenery, much of which can happen from the ship.  I see from snooping about on the Interwebs that there are museums in Anchorage, Juneau (Alaska State Museum), Haines (the Hammer Museum - as in tool you hit things with), Sitka, Wrangell, Vancouver (Maritime Museum looks promising) and Valdez.  

 

Obviously, Alaska has much interesting history - geological, Native Tribal, Russian period, American period (post "Seward's Folly"), fishing, trapping and trading, the Gold Rush and onset of mining, discovery and recovery of oil, to name a few.  Many of these are a short walk from the pier, or from where shuttles from the pier will drop us off, and we are interested to check a number of them out.  So, dear readers, if any of you have experience with visiting any of these museums, I would be most interested in your feedback as to what you thought.  The Anchorage Museum looks to be a major one, and as we are doing a full day there before hopping on the train to Seward the next morning, we'll give it a serious look.  I saw elsewhere a comment that the museum in Wrangell, while small, is especially well done.  

 

Thanks in advance for any feedback you may have.  

Edited October 1, 2023 by Will Work for Tiramisu

[karatemom2]

We have been to the Alaska State Museum in Juneau and found it very interesting. The Juneau Douglas Museum there is small, but interesting if you are interested in the Gold History in Juneau. When visiting Haines, the Hammer museum is a novelty, but will take you all of 5 minutes. Since you will be there on two different days, you might consider taking the ferry to Skagway on your second visit to get another port and more of a sense of the Gold Rush history at the excellent museums there. And while I love a good museum, much of the real joy of Alaska is getting out in nature and seeing the beauty of this amazing place. Be sure to schedule time for that part as well - even if you don't want to do ship tours, which we tend to avoid as well, you will find most ports are easy to plan on your own. We find rental cars a great way to get out of the towns and see more of the surrounding area and there are many private vendors in every port that you can book that provide great and more personal experiences as well. Enjoy!

[oaktreerb]

If you are not docking in Skagway I second the recommendation to take the ferry from Haines  to Skagway.  Skagway is a national park and has a very nice museum but the whole town has places that are like a museum, like Soapy Smith’s Parlor.  You will probably see an excursion to Skagway for the White Pass Railroad into the Yukon.  You could just spend the day in Skagway visiting the museum and looking at the historical displays that the National Park offers.

 

The Hammer Museum in Haines is really interesting and if you actually read the text alongside the tools it will take you at least 30-60 minutes.   

 

 

 

 

[vampiress]

for sure check out what NPS stuff exists in port, we stumbled onto this NPS museum after i walked us in the wrong direction for creek street and it was a nice exhibit.

 

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/tongass/about-forest/offices/?cid=fseprd547855

[AKStafford]

If you can add another couple of days to Anchorage stay, here's some other museum options:

https://www.cityofwasilla.gov/services/departments/museum

https://palmermuseum.org/

http://www.museumofalaska.org/

https://www.alaskanative.net/

https://foast.org/museum

https://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/aspunits/matsu/indepmineshp.htm

http://www.wkhsociety.org/knik-museum.html

[Aquahound]

In Juneau, I recommend the tribal Sealaska Heritage Institute.  It's a very easy walk from the pier.

[Will Work for Tiramisu]

Wow! What a robust response - many thanks to all of you for your suggestions and information.  I will consider all of this and do more research.  Kind regards, WWFT 

 

[Northern Aurora]

On 10/1/2023 at 2:12 PM, Will Work for Tiramisu said:

Folks,

My DW & I will be cruising round trip from Seward - Vancouver - Seward on Silversea in 2024.  This is two back-to-back 7 day trips, but they stop at different ports coming & going, so we get to see 8 different towns, in addition to Anchorage, where we will fly in and take the train to the ship at Seward.  ......

 

 

I am late to the discussion, but am curious as to which communities you will be visiting.   And I love your reference to "Seward's Folly"  -- that has been so debunked by historians but we just can't get rid of it.  Like the myth of Betsy Ross sewing the first US flag.

 

In Anchorage the best part of the Anchorage Museum is the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center.  The artifacts are on loan (long-term) from the Smithsonian and it is so well curated.  Part of the Anchorage Museum is undergoing an exhibit update and redesign.  It used an outdated time line concept and was badly designed. I don't know the status of the redesign but these projects always take more time than anticipated.

 

So many Alaska communities have small museums operated by the local historical society.  The Seward Museum is operated by the Resurrection Bay Historical Society.  And while not technically a museum Seward also has the SeaLife Center.

 

Ketchikan has the Tongass Historical Museum and the Totem Heritage Center.  The Southeast Alaska Discovery Center is mentioned in post #4.

 

In Juneau you will find the State Museum.  The Sealaska Heritage Institute has also been mentioned; the cultural exhibits are well curated, and the gift shop is my "to go" place for earrings.  The Juneau-Douglas Museum is another one of those small museums operated by a historical society.  Availability to visit the Wickersham State Historical Site is always sketchy as the state never has developed a good plan to operate it; I have been inside and if it is open it is worth the walk.

 

For those visiting Sitka the shuttle buses from the dock deliver folks to the Harrigan Centennial Center.  Inside the HCC the Sitka Historical Society operates a small museum.  Diagonally across the street is the Russian Bishop's House; it is well worth it to visit the second floor.  The Sheldon Jackson Museum is actually part of the Alaska State Museum. The museum was owned by the Sheldon Jackson College (a small Presbyterian affiliated college) which is now defunct but when trying to fund the college the museum collection was going to be sold; the state of Alaska had the foresight to buy the building and contents.  It is well worth visiting and is located along the road to the Sitka National Historical Park. The SNHP has a great visitor's center.

 

Skagway has one of the units of the Klondike Goldrush National Historical Park.  The National Park Service now has ownership of approximately 20 buildings and several are operated as museums.  There is also the Skagway Museum which is operated by the municipality.

 

 

 

 

[Will Work for Tiramisu]

Dear Northern -

We are on two back to back 7 day Silversea cruises, which stop at different ports each way.  Not mentioning things like hanging out watching glaciers, the actual ports we visit are (in order) Juneau, Haines, Sitka, Wrangell, Vancouver, Ketchikan, Skagway & Valdez.  I truly appreciate your input.  We're not in nothing-but-museums mode, but we also think local museums are a way to understand what local people want you to understand about their history.  Thanks for your robust response.  I'm making copious notes!!  

[roupa]

The Sea Life center in Seward is a great place to visit!  It’s an aquarium as well as an excellent research center with much info/displays/live presentations. The layout is well planned. 
You might walk along the easy, 1-mile path beside the shore to or from the center from “down town”.  The view is nice, and you’ll very likely see campers/fishermen catching lots of salmon right from the shore!

[edinburgher]

On 10/3/2023 at 7:31 AM, roupa said:

The Sea Life center in Seward is a great place to visit!

I would second that.  Our day in Seward was very wet so we strolled along to this center as a way of escaping the rain, only to find that we really enjoyed it and spent longer than we thought we might.

 

In Haines the weather was absolutely glorious so we decided on the spur of the moment to take a flightseeing trip as they are costly and we had not wanted to book one ahead of time anywhere in case the weather was poor on the day. We were only doing one on that trip an it was an opportunity. We left the ship early and went directly to a local company which offered a selection of routes and booked there and then.  When we returned an hour or so later for our time slot, all of their slots for the entire day had been filled by other pax who had the same idea, so if interested organise it as early in the day as you can.

Edited October 4, 2023 by edinburgher

[jean-lynd]

We loved the museum in Skagway.  If you google it you will find a lot of information. The site is skagway.org.

[donaldsc]

I did not see if you are getting to Fairbanks.  There are several really good museums there including the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum and the University of Alaska Museum of the North ·  

 

DON

[sfaaa]

21 hours ago, jean-lynd said:

We loved the museum in Skagway.  If you google it you will find a lot of information. The site is skagway.org.

The best part: it's free and equipped with very clean public washrooms.