Hoonah City Tour

Departing the dock area shore side, This journey back in time starts with a short but scenic ride to the largest Tlingit settlement in Alaska, on a tour designed to show you how the Tlingits live today, and also centuries ago.

Hoonah is many things in a small package: A lively fishing community, an old logging town and the world's largest Tlingit village. The Tlingit are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast and their name means "People of the Tides". Your local guide will describe how this coastal community came to be when the rapid glacial advance of the Little Ice Age forced the clans from their ancestral home in Glacier Bay. Learn about how the people rebuilt when the village was destroyed by fire during WWII.

At the small Hoonah School, you will be able to take photographs of the fascinating Totem poles that are a feature of this village and learn how to read them. With photo-stops built into your trip, your guide will be on hand at all times to point out the many wonderful details that make this settlement so special: there are few paved roads and no stoplights throughout the community.

You will also learn about the local economy and in particular, how the fishing, timber and tourism industries help support and sustain Hoonah. Don't forget to keep your eyes peeled for the animal representatives of the two Tlingit moieties keeping watch over town - Ravens and Eagles!