The Russian explorers settled here in 1799, naming it Fort of Archangel Michael. The Russian-American Company was a colonial trading company which was attacked by the native Tlingit who destroyed the original settlement, killing many of the Russians living there in 1802.
The Russians returned in 1804 and eventually defeated the Tlingit. Renamed the "New Archangel" and was made the designated the capital of Russian America.
We had a bit of a bus ride around the town and we had a rather wonderful dance presentation that outlined the history of the place.
After that we went to walk around the town. It was so well set up for tourists. We walked through a temperate rainforest and then crossed a river where the salmon were running and many of whom were being picked off by birds of prey. I wasn't too worried about bears, given that we had just seen about 300 teens run through the woods as part of the Sitka Invitational Run.
We found our way to the Raptor Centre. Here they rehabilitate birds of prey back into the wild if they can. They are injured as the result of car accidents, electrocution, fighting each other or being shot at. For animals they intend to release back into the wild, they limit human contact, so they are behind a one-way mirror, and they use a small waterfall to mask sounds of human activity. It was all very clever.
This beautiful specimen is a Grey Northern Owl. The photo does not do him/her justice.
This Snowy Owl has been given some food wrapped up to make it more interesting for him. He didn't seem to want us to see him open and eat it. It was a rat's head so I can understand his reluctance. Or maybe he is just stupid.They did have several bald eagles in residence, and they really are quite magnificent animals.
It was a really nice experience.
We walked back into town and found the National Cemetery. This contained the burials of former US service men and women. I thought this was an area that WW2 would have figured very prominently but the graves varied from the Indian Wars through to the Korean War and some with their wives.
We came across one grave at random, a Captain Charles William Paddock USMC and with a minimum of research we discovered that he was an Olympic gold medalist from the 1920 Olympic games. He was the first person to be described as "The Fastest Man on Earth" and his "100m" record stood until 1956. He was killed in an air accident during WW2. He was portrayed in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, and although it was the third Olympics he competed in, he was not in the final.
We also found the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St Michaels's church built in 1841 but unfortunately it was burnt down in 1966 but rebuilt.