Past Events
2015 Annual Meeting
Boathouse Restoration 2014
Thanks to all who helped with this year's cleaning that went on before we painted inside, in preparation for wiring and lights.The big part of this project was restoring ALL of the boathouse windows.
SMHS at 2013 WhaleFestWhat a wonderful weekend at WhaleFest!
Our walking tour of the boathouse was a success, and we had a great time hosting a table at the WhaleFest Market. We would like to thank our fantastic volunteers who helped watch the table, sell merchandise, and assist with memberships: Carl & MaryAnn Peterson, Cathy Bagley and Sheila Finkenbinder. SMHS staff would also like to thank all of the board members who helped over the weekend: Joe D'Arienzo, Rebecca Poulson, John Dunlap, Mike Litman, Grant Miller and Chris Brewton. What a fantastic group! World War II Boat TripWWII veteran Walt Dangel (Andrew Miller photo)
A donated Allen Marine catamaran was sold out with a capacity of 100 people for the July 10th World War II boat trip. SMHS board member Matt Hunter, who maintains the website www.sitkaww2.com, was the featured speaker on the tour along with stories from Walt Dangel, Herb Didrickson, Herman Davis and Frank Hope, who all lived in Sitka during the war. (see pictures on our galleries page)
The first stop was in front of the Japonski Island Boathouse, which serviced military vessels in World War II and is now being restored by the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society. From there, the boat passed through the Channel in front of the former site of the Naval Air Station, which is now home to Mt. Edgecumbe High School and the University of Alaska Southeast and proceeded around the airport to the World War II Causeway. After a discussion of the military build up on the islands of the Causeway, the tour headed across Sitka Sound to Shoals Point on Kruzof Island, where visible structures built during the War can still be seen. Although the main focus of the tour was World War II, the trip to Kruzof provided opportunities to observe marine life. There also was some fabulous bird watching at St. Lazaria Island on the return from Shoals Point. 2013 Sitka Sound Ocean Adventure Race
The sixth annual Sitka Sound Ocean Adventure Race was on August 11. All proceeds from the race, which featured 6- and 14- mile divisions, benefited the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society. Thanks Everyone!
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2015 Underwater Archaeology & Wildlife Cruise
2014 Annual Meeting
Heartfelt thanks to all who made the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society 2014 Annual Meeting a great success. What an interesting and delightful evening it turned out to be!
The topic was Harvesting and Sharing Foods from Our Waters and Shores, and our panelists John and Roby Littlefield, Steve Johnson, Kellan Shoemaker, Florence Welsh, and Peter Williams gave us a gift in sharing their articulate and surprising stories about their experiences out harvesting wild ocean foods. We're grateful also to the audience members who joined in to offer their tales about engaging in one of Sitka’s most treasured family traditions. We appreciate the drama, insights and laughs you all provided! Accolades to our moderator, Eric Jordan, for his knack for helping create this unique evening of “community conversation,” to Sitka Tribe Enterprises, for renting us such a beautiful space, Sheetka Kwaan Naa Kahidi, and also to Kitty Wilson-Sopow for being the superhero volunteer that she was! And finally, lots of angel points to those who brought goodies to eat (such tasty and varied foods!). During the brief business part of the meeting we thank our members who filled out their ballots to vote in board members, Rebecca Poulson, Mike Litman, Joe D’Arienzo, John Dunlap, Brinnen Carter and Hayley Chambers. 2013 Annual Meeting on Herring
The annual meeting panelists (Andrew Miller photo)
Panelists Joy Light, Grant Miller and John Neilsen shared memories and knowledge of herring reduction plants, commercial herring operations and traditional subsistence herring harvests at the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society annual meeting on February 12. The event drew a full house in the Centennial Hall Maksoutoff Room with members of the audience also sharing their experiences. The Sitka National Historical Park loaned a herring rake for a display, and panelist Joy Light provided dozens of photos from her family's Kuiu Island reduction plant.
Earthquake: Stories from 1964, Fifty Years Later
The program began with chilling film footage of the 1964 Earthquake event, captured by a person on the ship at the Valdez dock, from the Valdez film "Between the Glacier and the Sea." Speakers included:
Bob Allen, who was running the crab fishing boat Fern when the earthquake and tsunami hit. He and his crew picked up dozens of survivors from the villages of Kaguyak and Old Harbor, and went back to Bob’s home port, Kodiak, where they discovered the waterfront had been completely destroyed. Bill Davis, who was chairman of the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group when the call went out for volunteers; he was in charge of the civilian rescue effort in Anchorage. Willis Osbakken, who was in Sitka, working for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey when the earthquake and tsunami hit, told what happened here—the impact, how Sitkans responded, the actual readings taken here, and why the damage wasn't more extensive. And Larry Calvin who was in Sitka, working as a "boom man" at the Alaska Lumber and Pulp Mill, breaking down log bundles into rafts to be fed into the mill. He was on the water, surrounded by giant logs when the waves hit, and he narrowly missed being injured. |