Photo Credit: South Franklin St Historic District

Juneau Historic Park or Site

Step back in time and immerse yourself in the rich history of Juneau with historic parks and site tours. From the preserved remnants of gold rush-era buildings to indigenous heritage sites, each location offers a glimpse into the past. Wander through the streets where pioneers once roamed, visit museums that showcase the area’s heritage, and learn about the vibrant cultures that have shaped Juneau.

Show Map

Historic Park or Site

This 1898 house was the home of Judge James Wick­er­sham, a leg­end in Alas­ka who brought civil­i­ty and law to the wild gold-rush towns of Eagle, Fair­banks, and Nome. After climb­ing Denali (Mt McKin­ley), he also helped lob­by for the cre­ation of Denali Nation­al Park, and was a force in Wash­ing­ton, where he per­suad­ed the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment to build uni­ver­si­ties and rail­roads in Alas­ka while giv­ing the ter­ri­to­ry legal rights. The house was in the…  ...more

Take a walk­ing tour through the his­toric dis­trict in Marine Park. Pick up a free map at the kiosk and just go! South Franklin Street is the main tourism dis­trict and one of the best shop­ping areas to find every­thing Alaskan, from cute and fur­ry faux crea­tures (like ice­worms) to hand­made native crafts and expen­sive fine art. To ensure authen­tic­i­ty, look for the polar bear sym­bol for goods made in Alas­ka and the Sil­ver Hand label for genuine…  ...more

Just a short, most­ly uphill, walk from down­town sits this estate that was built in 1913 for $40,000 and now hous­es Alas­ka Gov­er­nor Bill Walk­er. Along with a totem pole out­side, the 26-room build­ing has eight fire­places to keep the wet, cold win­ter at bay. There aren’t tours of the man­sion, but local bus tours made it a des­ti­na­tion dur­ing Sarah Palin’s time in office — par­tic­u­lar­ly, of course, when she was the Vice Pres­i­den­tial nominee.

This Russ­ian Ortho­dox church was built by and for Ser­bian min­ers and Tlin­git Indi­ans — not Rus­sians. Tlin­gits were attract­ed to the reli­gion because of the church’s accep­tance of their lan­guage and cul­ture; Protes­tant mis­sion­ar­ies attempt­ed to erase their cus­toms. Now, more than 110 years lat­er, the church con­tin­ues to serve the com­mu­ni­ty, with ser­vices sung in Eng­lish, Tlin­git, and Slavon­ic. A clas­sic Russ­ian build­ing, paint­ed in the…  ...more

[{"slug":"juneau","title":"Juneau"}]