Seward, Gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park

Seward is a picturesque town and one of Alaska’s oldest and most scenic communities.  It has an historic downtown filled with quaint shops, art galleries, and great restaurants.  A bustling harbor sits at the edge of town and many tourists arrive via cruise ship for a day of exploration.  This is one of the most easily accessible communities in Alaska.  A favorite saying about Seward is “Alaska starts here”. 

President Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Henry Seward, engineered the Purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 and his namesake was used for the name of this historical town.  A Russian explorer, Alexander Baranof, sighted and named Resurrection Bay in 1792 and Russian settlements were established and the region’s ship building business was underway.  A century later the city was officially founded in 1903 on a long-abandoned Native village site. 

A party of railroad men arrived in 1903 and laid out the present city in a traditional grid of city blocks and wide streets that would be familiar to anyone from similar railroad towns across America.   Seward also played a vital role in WWII.  The port was used as the northern-most ice-free port and the railroad was used as a critical supply line for the war effort.  Fort McGilvray housed 500 soldiers from 1941-1943 and served as the strategic command center for protection of the port.

Activities abound in the Seward area including the Sealife Center, walking tours, shopping, dining, wildlife watching and glacier tours.  The Alaska Sealife Center is at the edge of town on the bay and offers a touch tank for close encounters with marine life, a sea lion rookery via live webcam, and other sea life displays.  Woody, the resident sealion, is anxious to meet you.  Underwater viewing tanks give a different view of marine wildlife.  There are many historical buildings downtown included in the walking tour and longtime Seward residents love to share their stories.  Many interesting gift shops are found downtown and in the small boat harbor area along with a number of local eateries featuring a variety of delicious culinary delights.

Alaska’s #1 wildlife and glacier cruise, Renown Tours is located at the harbor offering 12 itineraries so there’s something for everyone.  On a recent cruise, we witnessed bear, whale, puffins, sea lions, a variety of seabirds, eagles, porpoises, and otters.  House-sized masses of ice crashing into the sea was a highlight of the cruise.  Glaciers are receding at record levels in Alaska due to climate change.  The only catamaran cruising the Kenai Fjords National Park for 6 hours is the best deal around.

If you are a birder, bring your life list as the sky is buzzing with gulls, terns, kittiwakes and the sea is humming with puffins, murres and other diving birds.  There are also a lot of species along the coast, in the surrounding rainforest, and on hiking trails.  The US Forest Service ranger station downtown has displays and information concerning birding.

Have you ever wondered what a glacier really looks like up close?  Exit Glacier is an easy half-mile walk where one can gaze into a mass of brilliant blue ice.  Signs and interpretive displays along the way offer information about the glacier and the flora and fauna found in the area.   For the hardy hiker, a 7 mile round trip excursion trail winds its way to the Harding Icefield which covers about 300 square miles and is the largest ice field completely contained within the United States.  There is a 3,000 elevation gain and snow, even in summer, is often seen at the higher elevations.

There are no fast food restaurants or Wal-Marts or any other big box store for that matter in the Seward area.  Visitors love the quaintness of this small town and those who visit often come back time after time and may eventually make the big move from the lower 48 to Seward Alaska.

See Denise Zirkle's Web sites at:
www.heritagemakers.com/205797
http://ic.longaberger.com/esuite/home/denisezirkle