I enjoyed a tour of the Totem Heritage Center one afternoon in Ketchikan.
This museum hosts one of the largest collections of 19th century totem poles in the world.
They also have many artifacts from some of the Tlingit villages around the area.
Our group was treated to a special educational tour of the vaults below the museum.
Here are just some of the unrestored poles that are kept in the climate controlled storage.
After the tour, I got back out and walked around downtown. There are modern totem poles everywhere!
This is the infamous Creek Street district. This place was kicking in the 1920s.
During that time, it was a Red Light District. There were over 20 houses of ill repute in operation then.
This was also the time of Prohibition, so smugglers used the fact that this district was built right on top of the water to sneak in the booze. They would wait for high tide and paddle right under the houses. Many had trap doors to allow them to get the liquor up into the houses.
I continued to walk along the creek and saw this huge salmon sculpture near an overlook. Salmon flood this creek in the summer.
This made me laugh so much! This is an actual trail that lead from the top of the mountain down to the Creek Street. Yep, married men would sneak down this trail to visit the ladies of the night. It was also a way to get back home if the police came to raid the brothels.
This was a gorgeous grouping of totem poles near the center where our convention was held.
This huge eagle was carved by Nathan Jackson. He was the interesting carver we met on the trip to Saxman.
I took a pic on the 13 minute flight from Ketchikan to Wrangell or maybe it was Wrangell to Petersburg. I don't know. You didn't get very high in the sky before landing on a strip about the length of your driveway! Well, maybe not that short but they were tiny!
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the city of Ketchikan. It was so interesting and informative.
