Rural Life in Sitka District Alaska

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View near Sitka.
View near Sitka.
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The Sitka District centers on two large islands.
The Sitka District centers on two large islands.
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Alaskan facts and figures chart.
Alaskan facts and figures chart.
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Alaskan facts map.
Alaskan facts map.
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Sitka today, between mountain and sea.
Sitka today, between mountain and sea.

Cream of the country: Sitka District, Alaska. The continuing series of the best sections of America to live a rural lifestyle. (See the Sitka Alaska photos, map and chart in the image gallery.)

Rural Life in Sitka District Alaska

Odd as it may seem, I first became intrigued with Sitka, Alaska, during a 1981 visit to Helsinki, Finland. While leading a Scandinavian Ans and Crafts tour for MOTHER EARTH NEWS, I met Irene Shuler, who enchanted me with vivid descriptions of her home in southeastern Alaska: Mt. Edgecurnbe, the long-extinct volcano framed by her living room window; the bald eagles landing on the small strip of beach beneath her house; the otters swimming nearby; the beautiful reminders of Sitka’s Russian heritage; its rich Indian culture . . . and, of course, the rain.

Then, in 1984, in Kathmandu, Nepal-of all places-I met Magdalena and Calvin Spiegle, she a retired nurse and he a fisherman, who also made their home in Sitka. The pride and affection with which they spoke of their town and the house they had built tucked back in the dark green foliage of spruce and cedar reawakened my desire to experience their sea and mountain world. Finally, last September, I arrived in this paradise perched on the western side of Baranof Island and fell in love with a tiny piece of a mighty land.

An Ocean-lsland World

  • Published on Sep 1, 1987
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