Homer Points of Interest

Homer is known through­out Alas­ka as the state’s pre­mier artist com­mu­ni­ty, home to dozens of gal­leries and artists. You’ll find a con­ve­nient clus­ter of gal­leries worth vis­it­ing along ​“Gallery Row,” the stretch of Pio­neer Avenue between Main Street and Lake Street. Here are three we like. Pic­ture Alas­ka Pic­ture Alas­ka (448 E. Pio­neer Ave.) fea­tures orig­i­nal paint­ings and fine art prints by notable local artists. This diverse gallery also…  ...more

Vis­i­tors dri­ving down to Homer (south west from Anchor­age) find a per­fect pull out rest stop on the right side of the high­way on the hill above town. From this van­tage, they get a pre­view of the plea­sures to come. Fish­ing boats’ win­dows twin­kle out in Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay, the Spit stretch­es half way across Kachemak Bay, and the snowy moun­tains on far side of the bay, embrac­ing Kachemak Bay State Park, plus of course the the town itself.  ...more

A facet of life in Homer that can be watched on tele­vi­sion is the ​“Dead­liest Catch” about com­mer­cial crab fish­ing in Alaska’s icy waters. Co-cap­tains Johathan and Andy Hill­strand have pro­duced a new book about their adven­tures, Time Ban­dit: Two Broth­ers, the Bering Sea and One of the World’s Dead­liest Jobs. Any­one who has fished Alaska’s waters, whether win­ter or sum­mer and for any species, know that it is a chal­leng­ing and risky profession.  ...more

Close to Anchor­age and endowed with abun­dant recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties, cen­tral Kenai is Alaska’s play­ground. Two high­ways, numer­ous trails, and sev­er­al major rivers slice through the spine of the Kenai Moun­tains. World-class fish­ing, hik­ing, riv­er raft­ing, and canoe­ing – plus alpine lakes and gold his­to­ry – make for an ide­al day trip or week-long vacation. 

The 125-mile water trail is intend­ed to inspire explo­ration, under­stand­ing and stew­ard­ship of the nat­ur­al trea­sure that is Kachemak Bay. Peo­ple will take their own boats, kayaks, skiffs, or canoes on a mapped route which high­lights the stops and the views along the way. On the web­site, you will find sug­gest­ed itineraries.

An amaz­ing array of inver­te­brates (ani­mals with­out back­bones) live with­in Home­r’s inter­tidal zone-between the water’s reach at high tide and the water’s edge at low tide. All you need is a pair of rub­ber boots and a tide book to explore their world.

The First Fri­day shows at the art gal­leries in Homer always present a great selec­tion of art. All of the in-town shops (there are some art shops on the Spit that don’t par­tic­i­pate in First Fri­day) also host artists’ recep­tions from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. with refresh­ments (usu­al­ly cook­ies, cof­fee, punch and tea) for vis­i­tors. Some of the artists also speak about their work. All of the gal­leries leave their fea­tured artist’s work up until the  ...more

As you head down the Homer Spit, you’ll see a col­lec­tion of ground­ed boats. Some are occu­pied, and oth­ers are aban­doned. All add to the charm of the Homer Spit. 

Four qui­et and seclud­ed Russ­ian Old Believ­er com­mu­ni­ties have been devel­oped on the out­skirts of Homer. They left their home coun­try in search of free­dom to wor­ship in their own way. The first (and eas­i­est to vis­it) Russ­ian Old Believ­er com­mu­ni­ty on the Kenai Penin­su­la was Niko­laevsk, locat­ed 10 miles east of Anchor Point on the North Fork Road, near the North Fork of the Anchor Riv­er. Pri­va­cy and pre­serv­ing their lifestyle are impor­tant to  ...more

The Salty Dawg Saloon was orig­i­nal­ly one of the first cab­ins built here in 1897, just after the town was estab­lished. Today, a vis­it to the his­toric Salty Dawg Saloon on the spit will enhance your vis­it and put you in touch with many locals. Much more than a saloon, the Dawg has reg­u­lar music per­for­mances and also serves light food.

A day trip across Kachemak Bay to the charm­ing vil­lage of Hal­ibut Cove offers you wildlife-view­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, an up-close look at a bustling bird sanc­tu­ary, and time to explore a tiny island com­mu­ni­ty of artists, crafts­peo­ple, and anglers. Go there on the Dan­ny J, a clas­sic wood­en fish­ing boat that fer­ries both vis­i­tors and res­i­dents across the bay, twice a day between Memo­r­i­al Day and Labor Day. Dur­ing the noon cruise, enjoy a…  ...more

Although this can be a busy spot, it is a lot less con­gest­ed than the Homer Spit. Things to do here include: tak­ing small day hikes, pad­dling in the lagoon, camp­ing, stay­ing at one of the three near­by pub­lic use cab­ins, and the most pop­u­lar, fish­ing for Kings dur­ing the month of June.

In an area known for out­stand­ing artists, Nor­man Low­ell, whose stu­dio is off in the wilder­ness north of town (near Anchor Point) sev­er­al miles, is one of the best known and least vis­it­ed because of his remote loca­tion. His work is exhib­it­ed in a very dif­fer­ent gallery set­ting and it is pre­sent­ed in a per­son­al way by the artist. Through his hang­ing arrange­ment, light­ing, and sequenc­ing of the work with thoughts on each paint­ing, the view­er is  ...more

Jean Keene, wide­ly known as the Homer ​“Eagle Lady,” shared her love and knowl­edge of eagles with vis­i­tors before she passed away Jan­u­ary 13, 2009. She was 85. In 1977 Keene relo­cat­ed from Aitkin, Min­neso­ta to Homer, where she lived in a motorhome parked with­in a small enclo­sure, in the mid­dle of a camp­ground near the out­er end of the Spit.

Below the Bypass and accessed main­ly from Main Street, the dis­trict was once the heart of Homer. It is still a vibrant area that draws locals and vis­i­tors for beach walks, din­ing, enter­tain­ment and art as well as basic needs like help with computers.

You don’t have to go into the art gal­leries (although that’s a good idea) to enjoy art in Homer. Many of the busi­ness­es, espe­cial­ly on Pio­neer Avenue, adorn their build­ings with out­stand­ing out­door art works.

The Nick Dudi­ak Fish­ing Lagoon (aka The Fish­ing Hole) is a pop­u­lar park with both locals and vis­i­tors. The lagoon is stocked with fry that grow up to pro­vide sport fish­ing. The fish­ing hole has a hand­i­capped acces­si­ble plat­form and ramp. King salmon return mid-May to ear­ly July fol­lowed by an ear­ly run of sil­vers mid-July to ear­ly August and a late run ear­ly August to mid-September.

The Swiss Kilch­er fam­i­ly came to this coun­try on a boat in the 1940s escap­ing the hor­rors of World War II in Europe, bless­ing Homer with out­stand­ing tal­ents in the per­form­ing as well as visu­al arts. They home­stead­ed 600 acres at mile 12.5 East End Road, near the head of Kachemak Bay.

A most spec­tac­u­lar view from the head of Kachemak Bay to Augus­tine vol­cano, this 180 degree panoram­ic view of ice, sea, moun­tains and sky makes a great back­drop for your sou­venir Alaskan pho­tos. The view changes sea­son to sea­son accord­ing to what wild­flow­ers are in bloom and depend­ing upon vary­ing cloud, sky, and snow conditions.

Every­one wants to explore a tide­pool, don’t they? This is a must for the kids — even that lit­tle kid in those slight­ly more mature vis­i­tors. Here’s the per­fect spot. Bring a tow­el and let’s have an inter­tidal adventure.

Above Homer, up East Hill and right on Sky­line Dri­ve a mile and a half (a beau­ti­ful dri­ve along the bluffs over­look­ing Homer), watch for the Wynn Nature Cen­ter, man­aged by the Cen­ter for Alaskan Coastal Stud­ies. You can stroll in the wilder­ness among the beau­ti­ful flo­ra and watch for wildlife or take a tour guid­ed by a well-informed naturalist.