Ketchikan History Walk

Explore the Tongass Historical Museum of Ketchikan where you will come across artifacts and historical photographs that will guide you through the tale of Ketchikan as a native fish camp, gold and copper mining center, fishing port, timber town, cannery site, transportation hub, and lively community.

This incredible walking tour will take you to the famous Creek Street, known as a historic boardwalk, perched on pilings along the banks of Ketchikan Creek. A former Red-Light District where both men and salmon swam upstream to spawn. It is now a quaint place to tour museums, view totem poles, shop at locally owned stores and galleries, and enjoy local art and culture.

Your next stop is the City Park of Ketchikan, Deer Mountain Hatchery and City Park. This is where you will learn about the history and culture of the Tlingit Tribe and their contributions with creating the first hatchery ever in the world.

From City Park, you will then proceed to the Totem Heritage Center. It is here where the world's largest collections of unrestored 19th-century totem poles are housed. The poles were recovered from uninhabited Tlingit settlements on Village Island and Tongass Island, south of Ketchikan, as well as from the Haida village of Old Kasaan. The Center was founded in 1976 to preserve these totems and act as a cultural center. In addition to functioning as a museum, the Totem Heritage Center preserves and promotes the traditional arts and crafts of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples through a nationally recognized program of art classes and other activities.

Sixteen of the museum's thirty-three totem poles are on permanent display; the rest of the collection is available for research purposes. The Center also exhibits other Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian artifacts and art pieces, including work by world-famous Tlingit carver Nathan Jackson, and renowned Haida weaver Delores Churchill.