Anchorage is the most populous city in Alaska, with a population of nearly 300,000. The area has been inhabited since before 3000 BC when the Alutiiq Eskimos settled along Cook Inlet. However, the Inuits abandoned the area many centuries later. In 1778, Captain James Cook rediscovered Anchorage in his search for the Northwest Passage, and the Cook Inlet, where Anchorage is, was named after him.

 
What are the five best things to do in Anchorage, Alaska, to get a feel for the history and cultural heritage? Explore the northern lights city with its unique ambience and elements of native culture, Alaskan wildlife, dog sledging traditions, authentic homesteads, coal and gold mining history, fabulous murals, local breweries, reindeer sausages, and much more.

The southern part of the Alaska Railroad was initiated as early as 1903 by the Alaska Central Railroad. In 1914, the Alaska Railroad Act was passed, and the Alaska Engineering Commission began investigating suitable railroad routes between Fairbanks and the coal mines in Nenana and Healy down to the sea. At the same time, people started to settle in Anchorage around Ship Creek (Knik Anchorage), a construction site for the future railroad.

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The Alaska Northern Railroad Company continued the construction of the rails further north. Finally, the best railroad route through this part of Alaska was found, linking the northern coal mines down through the Kenai Peninsula to the town of Seward, with a year-round ice-free deep-water port. The coal would be loaded onto cargo ships in Seward, from where passengers, mail, and goods would be returned up north.

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In 1915, in a short time, thousands of men arrived at Knik Anchorage, where they set up makeshift homes in a tent city. Each week, more immigrants came as hopeful job seekers to the tent campsite, settling under increasingly worse sanitary conditions. That continued until President Wilson established a new town with higher hygiene standards.

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Today, the 760 km-long Alaska Railroad connects Seward and Anchorage with Denali National Park and Fairbanks. Long trains constantly pass through the city, honking to warn pedestrians! A classic journey with a scenic train is popular to travel to Denali National Park. Anchorage still boasts the historic railroad buildings around the Alaska Railroad Depot and a historic locomotive in front of the Depot building. One of the gems is an engine that contributed to building the Panama Canal!

On a walk around the historic railroad buildings, you will get an excellent impression of the history of the Alaska Railroad and the pioneer way of life, also described on signposts around the city.

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Also, a few of the former homesteads still exist, the homes established by immigrants who obtained federal land for free according to the Homestead Act signed by President Lincoln in 1862. Many of the pioneers were Scandinavian. One of the famous houses to visit is the Oscar Andersen House, the city’s first wood-framed house built by the 18th-arriving pioneer in Anchorage.

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On the other side of the Alaska Railroad buildings, you will find the Ulu Factory, a gift shop specialising in producing traditional and unique Ulu knives with ancient-style curved blades and cutting bowls, ideal for filleting fish. Craftspeople demonstrate the technique. Continuing further north, you will end up at the historic Ships Creek, today a favourite site for salmon fishing and viewing the salmon jumping up the dam!

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Ships Creek | Photo: Travel In Culture

Before the establishment of the Alaska Railroad, gold was transported from the gold mining fields in the north down to Seward on the coast on dog sledges. To celebrate dog mushing, the Alaskan official sport of travelling on sledges pulled by dogs, a part of Anchorage’s Fourth Avenue was designated as the Mushing District! Signage, mushing statues, and dog paws are iconic symbols in the street.

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Native artworks blend with modern paintings in the cityscape. Third Avenue, Fourth Avenue, Fifth Avenue, and Sixth Avenue mark Anchorage city centre. The avenues are lined with clothing stores, kitschy souvenir shops promoting the tourist industry, museums, galleries, local bars, restaurants and Alaskan icons such as totem poles and other native symbols, and awe-inspiring bear sculptures emphasising the state’s greatness.

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Several of the alphabetically numbered intersecting streets boast impressive murals telling the story of the past, the people, and the wildlife of Alaska. G Street is the Art District. At the end of Third Avenue, Captain Cook stands gazing out to sea, immortalised with the monument raised on the 200th anniversary of his discovery of the Alaskan strait. It commemorates one of the greatest explorers and navigators on the globe.

49th State Brewing | Photo: Travel In Culture

Alaska’s culture and history also cover the food scene. Reindeer sausage, freshly caught and smoked salmon, halibut and other seafood. Anchorage’s beer brew is also famous and part of the local culture. Visiting a local Alaskan brewery is one of the ‘must’ things to do in Anchorage. There are dozens of local microbreweries and distilleries.

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The Inuit cultural heritage and history come alive in the local museums, museum shops, art and antique galleries (including all kinds of ivory and walrus carvings and sculptures), and the Alaska Public Lands Information Center. The latter is a fantastic visitor centre that introduces Alaska’s lands and its wide variety of Arctic wildlife – from bears, moose, and salmon species to reindeer hotdogs from the hotdog cart outside the visitor centre.

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Anchorage Museum is an excellent museum for understanding Alaska and its people through native art, culture, politics, and history, all ingeniously weaved together in the exhibitions. The collections of the Smithsonian Institution illustrate how Alaskan native cultures have been able to survive in the Arctic environment. To delve more into Alaskan culture, dancing, and authentic stories, the Alaska Native Heritage Center, a little outside Anchorage, is also an incredible heritage museum to visit.

Alaskan Veterans Museum | Photo: Travel In Culture

Other exciting things to do include the curious Alaska museums of cultural interest in central Anchorage. The Alaska Law Enforcement Museum is a museum telling the story of the introduction of law and order to Alaska. Also, the Alaska Mint allows you to immerse yourself into a universe of Alaskan jewellery and medallions. That is also the starting point of the winter sledgedog race in Anchorage.

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Alaskan wildlife is abundant. The waters around Anchorage are rich in Pacific salmon species – King, Silver, Pink or Red spawn in the rivers and creeks. Beluga whale sightings are not rare from the coastline, particularly south of Anchorage. There is a coastal trail west of the city with dedicated paths for hikers and cyclists – a lovely way to experience the greatness of Alaska’s nature.

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An excellent place to start is Point Woronzof Overlook, where you can enjoy both the scenic seascape and mountainscape – and get a close-up of aircraft flying into Anchorage – both passenger and cargo planes, as well as the floatplanes heading for Lake Hood. There are even panoramic views of Denali on a good day.

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Just a few hundred metres to the east, you can explore Anchorage’s Earthquake Park. The Good Friday Quake occurred on Friday, March 27th, 1964. With a magnitude of 9.2 on the Richter scale, it was the most powerful earthquake ever registered on this continent (and the second-most powerful in the world). Some demolishing four minutes, the tectonic plate movement lasted, shaking populated areas of Anchorage and the surrounding landscape apart. The epicentre was just 120 km away, and the seismic activity moved the Pacific Plate beneath the Continental Plate, causing massive landslides.

The Earthquake Park | Photo: Travel In Culture

The traces are still visible today in the Earthquake Park just north of the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, and a walk through the park is one of the things you shouldn’t miss in Alaska. The earthquake killed 115 people in Alaska and damaged many roads and things around Anchorage, including 141 bridges!

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One of the unique things to do in Anchorage is to visit Lake Hood, the Seaplane Base, where floatplanes from everywhere in Alaska land on the water. The base includes Lake Spenard to the east, with a canal established between the two lakes to provide takeoff and taxi lanes.

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The base operates continuously and has an average of 190 flights per day, making it the largest and busiest floatplane base in the world.

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A walk around Lake Hood is an awesome experience where you can see floatplanes taking off and landing. You will have an excellent view of the lake traffic from the area near the Department of Transportation Building, a spectacular piece of architecture with an inverted structure, also known as the ‘Upside Down Building’.

For more inspiration for what to do on a day trip from Anchorage towards Seward, you may want to read Where to Stay in Anchorage & What to Do Before a Cruise

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