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Mt.
Edgecumbe rises 3,201' from sea level,
dominating the western skyline of Sitka
in this telephoto-enhanced photograph.
The
confluence of Tlingit, Russian and American influences
in Sitka has created a cultural environment here that
consistently surprises and delights residents and visitors
alike. On a given day, one could attend a concert by
the world-renowned musicians of the Sitka
Summer Music Festival; visit one of the finest museums
of Native artifacts in Alaska; see those artifacts
come to life in a performance of a Native dance group;
see Russian culture preserved in the Russian Bishop's
House or the performances of the New Archangel Dancers;
or attend an impromptu poetry reading at a local coffee
house.
A well-known writer's symposium draws authors and thinkers
to Sitka each year.
The late James Michner used Sitka as his base while
writing his novel "Alaska."
Home of the Tlingit Indians for millennia, Russian traders
recognized Sitka's location and resources and made the
city the capital of Russian America. Known as the "Paris
of the Pacific," 1840's Sitka was the largest European-style
settlement on the West Coast of North America. When
the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867
for $7.2 million, the Stars and Stripes were first raised
on Castle Hill in downtown Sitka.
