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Seward is one of the larger cities on the Kenai Peninsula in the area south of Anchorage. Its history started in 1793, when Alexander Baranov established a trading post here for the company Severo-Vostochnaja Kompaniya/Северо-Восточная компания. The company operated a fur trade, and Russia during this time was responsible for the development of the maritime fur trade, which took place with local tribes along the American northwest coast. For this purpose, Alexander Baranov initiated the construction of the three-masted Phoenix, which was the first ship to be built in Russian America.
However, many years passed before the town of Seward developed. At the end of the 1800s, Captain Frank Lowell came here with his family, and in 1903 John and Frank Ballaine came with a group of settlers to begin the construction of a railroad from here, and since then the track has meant a lot to Seward, which formally became a city in 1912 and named after the US Secretary of State William H. Seward, who in his time orchestrated the US purchase of Alaska from Russia, which was effected in 1867. The Alaska Railroad was built here from 1915-1923, and with its ice-free harbor, Seward became a logistics center for supplies.
Seward is well located and forms the southern starting point for the important Alaska Railroad, which, among other things, connects the city with Anchorage and Fairbanks. Seward is also the starting point for the so-called Iditarod Trail, which began as a series of connected trails to interior Alaska and the coastal town of Nome to the northwest. Many hiked these trails from 1908, when gold was found at Nome. The Iditarod Trail is marked today with a 0 mile stone and the Trail Blazers statue along Railway Ave in south Seward.
Today, Seward is a city of about 3,000 inhabitants. It is surrounded by beautiful nature, which is one of the things that make Seward well-visited, but there are also exciting experiences in the city itself, where you can enjoy a tour of the historic part of the city. On the south coast near downtown is the aquarium and research site Alaska SeaLife Center, where you can take a closer look at the area’s marine wildlife. North of downtown you can see Seward’s harbour, where there are many opportunities to sail out and experience the Kenai Fjords National Park. In the same area is Seward’s station, where you can see the Alaska Railroad when there are trains to, for example, Anchorage.
If one is interested in the history of Seward, the Seward Community Library & Museum is the place to visit. The city museum is located in the city’s library building, and here you can, among other things, learn about the earthquake that shook large parts of Alaska in 1964. Seward was one of the towns hardest hit. 13 people died as a result of the quake, 86 houses were completely damaged and a further 260 were seriously damaged. A large area along the port so important to the city also sank into Resurrection Bay.
A good way to tie the impressions and experiences together is to walk along the shores of Resurrection Bay. Here there is a nice trail all the way from the Alaska SeaLife Center and the 0 mile stone for the Iditarod Trail to the harbor and railroad area. The path marks the start of the old sled dog route along the Iditarod Trail, and on the trip you can see both Seward and the nature around Resurrection Bay, which Alexander Baranov named in 1793 because his expedition came here on Resurrection Day in the Russian calendar. One can walk back through town and notice the many murals that have become part of Seward’s landmarks.
In the heart of Seward is the main street Fourth Avenue, which exudes an old gold digger and settler atmosphere. The oldest part lies between Washington Street in the south and Adams Street in the north, and on both sides of the street there are fine houses from old Seward.
The east side of Fourth Avenue burned in 1941, and as a result most of the old buildings are on the west side of the street. Among several buildings worth seeing is the store Brown & Hawkins, which was established by Charles E. Brown and T.W. Hawkins in 1904.
Along Railway Avenue in Seward’s south is Seward’s old railroad station. Built in 1917, the fine building was originally located at Adams Street and Ballaine Boulevard. The station was the starting point for the Alaska Railroad, which was built from Seward to the north to e.g. Anchorage and Fairbanks.
The station was moved to its current location in 1928. The move was due to Lowell Creek continually flooding parts of the town and the railroad, and it was obviously inconvenient. The station building was moved to the south, while the starting point of the railway itself was moved to the north, so that the track would no longer be flooded. Today, the charming station building is set up as a café.
The boat harbor in Seward is the focal point for the city’s great fishing and tourism. In the harbor are the city’s many fishing boats, tour fishing boats and tourist boats that sail to, among other things, Kenai Fjords National Park to see the marine life and the area’s glaciers.
You can take walks in the harbor and look at the boats, the activities and for some of the birds and animals that can be seen in Seward Boat Harbor. Along the waterfront on the western side of the harbor you can see the day’s catches, which are landed, weighed and filleted at several tables, and this gives a good impression of the work with the fish in the city.
The Alaska SeaLife Center is a combined research institution and public aquarium that focuses on Alaska’s marine ecosystems. Opened in 1998, the aquarium was established with partial funding from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker disaster, which provided a real insight into the fragile biological life of the seas around Alaska.
In the aquarium, you can see the local seabirds that can dive into a large aquarium, and you can also see harbor seals and Steller’s sea lions. It is also possible to learn about and touch starfish and sea urchins, just as there is also an exhibition about fishing in Alaska, which is not least known for salmon, crabs and halibut.
A combined library and museum, this place stands architecturally as a modern contrast to the old Seward with its colorful exterior. The museum is local history and is run together with the association Resurrection Bay Historical Society.
At the museum, you can learn about Seward’s history, and there are themed exhibitions about, among other things, the area’s first inhabitants and the later American settlement. You can also see more about the 1964 earthquake that, like many other places in Alaska, caused devastation in Seward by the earthquake and the following tsunami.
In the southern part of Seward lies the green area, Hoben Park, next to Resurrection Bay. There is a beautiful view over the water and to the surrounding mountains, and there are also several sights and interesting information boards in the park.
On the boards you can read of Seward’s early history, because it was here that the town started and where the ships of the time docked. There are also several monuments, such as the Founders Monument, which commemorates John Bellaine and his traveling company, who came here and founded Seward in 1903. You can also see a monument that marks the original starting point of the Iditarod routes that started from Seward towards the mines in Iditarod to Nome; Iditarod Mile Marker 0. Also in the park is the Trail Blazers monument, depicting a gold digger and a sled dog, also commemorating the start of the Iditarod route.
Exit Glacier is a glacier that is easily accessible from Seward. You can drive almost all the way to Exit Glacier, which is one of many glaciers that come down from the ice massif Harding Icefield. The name Exit Glacier comes from the first expedition over Harding Icefield, which just got out of the ice by going down Exit Glacier.
When you get to the parking lot at Exit Glacier, you can continue along several trails to the glacier itself or a little up towards the Harding Icefield. Along the road to the car park and along the paths, you can see several signs with years, which mark the glacier’s historical spread from 1815 to the present day.
Nash Road is a road that runs east of Resurrection Bay and thus on the opposite side of the bay from the town of Seward. Along the way there are several viewpoints from which there are beautiful panoramic views of Resurrection Bay and the mountains behind Seward.
There are also several sights along the way. You can stop at Afognak Beach, where you can walk down to the water. During the salmon season, locals and visitors can be seen hauling in one salmon after another, and above them fly sea eagles with their characteristic white heads.
A little north of Afognak Beach, along Nash Road, you can see a monument which marks the so-called Seward Meridian. The meridian is one of several that are collectively used as a division and survey of the entire state of Alaska.
Kenai Fjords is a large national park located in the area southwest of Seward. The park has a size of about 2,700 square kilometers, and it consists of the ice massif Harding Icefield, the massif’s glaciers and the fjords and islands that lie at and off the glacier mouths. The park’s name comes from the many fjords that the glaciers have formed throughout history.
There are 38 glaciers in the national park, of which Bear Glacier is the largest. The most easily accessible is Exit Glacier, to which the park’s only road leads. The rest of the park must be reached by boat, flight or hike. Brown bears, black bears, moose, sea otters, harbor seals, killer whales, whales, puffins and many other animals live in the park.
Seward is the town closest to Kenai Fjords National Park, and therefore the town is the starting point for the many tour boats that sail here to give guests an experience of the park’s wildlife and glaciers. From Seward Boat Harbor you can go on excursions of various durations, which sail out to spot e.g. whales and killer whales, and which sail close to glaciers such as Aialik Glacier and Holgate Glacier.
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Seward
Overview of Seward
Seward is one of the larger cities on the Kenai Peninsula in the area south of Anchorage. Its history started in 1793, when Alexander Baranov established a trading post here for the company Severo-Vostochnaja Kompaniya/Северо-Восточная компания. The company operated a fur trade, and Russia during this time was responsible for the development of the maritime fur trade, which took place with local tribes along the American northwest coast. For this purpose, Alexander Baranov initiated the construction of the three-masted Phoenix, which was the first ship to be built in Russian America.
However, many years passed before the town of Seward developed. At the end of the 1800s, Captain Frank Lowell came here with his family, and in 1903 John and Frank Ballaine came with a group of settlers to begin the construction of a railroad from here, and since then the track has meant a lot to Seward, which formally became a city in 1912 and named after the US Secretary of State William H. Seward, who in his time orchestrated the US purchase of Alaska from Russia, which was effected in 1867. The Alaska Railroad was built here from 1915-1923, and with its ice-free harbor, Seward became a logistics center for supplies.
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