Less than a three-hour drive south of Anchorage, the city of Kenai (“keen-eye”) is at the heart of the Kenai Peninsula. With a population of about 7,000, Kenai is on the western side of the peninsula, where the Kenai River, famous for salmon fishing, flows into Cook Inlet.
The name Kenai, said to derive from Kenayskaya, a Russian term, means “flat, barren land.” Today, however, the richly cultural mecca of Kenai is anything but barren.
Holy Assumption Russian Orthodox is a well-preserved, ornate church and national historic landmark in Old Town Kenai that still holds services. The Church has represented Russian culture in south central Alaska since 1845, when Father Igumen Nikolai established a permanent parish in Kenai.
In 1849, they built the first Holy Assumption parish church was built, and 10 years later, over 1,400 Dena’ina Athabascan Indians were baptized into the Russian Orthodox faith. The Russians called them “Kenaitze,” meaning “people of Kenai,” and that name has carried on.
The church was an educational, religious, and judicial center the Kenaitze tribe used throughout the 20th century. The present church, a classic example of Russian iconography, built in 1895, replaced the original.
Across from Holy Assumption Church and Mission Avenue, the tiny Chapel of Saint Nicholas overlooks Cook Inlet. The chapel, built in 1906, is a tribute to Father Nikolai and his assistant Makary Ivanov, who brought the smallpox vaccine to Kenai.
At the Kenai Visitor and Cultural Center, you will find scrimshaw (ivory carvings), ulus (“oo-looz,” 5,000-year-old rounded knives crafted by Native Alaskans and handmade dolls.
Photos from the Russian era and early days of the local oil industry are on display. A walking tour of Old Town Kenai begins at the Visitors Center and passes through 18 historic buildings that once housed Russian and early civic activities.
Stepping back, Kenai Landing
At the mouth of the Kenai River, a fish cannery dating back to 1912 is now “Kenai Landing,” a unique resort brimming with local history. In 2005, they renovated the old Wards Cove Packing Company's rustic buildings.
Eighty-foot wide boardwalks connect the fishing docks with Sockeye's restaurant, a huge "Warehouse Market" of local arts and crafts, a brew pub, and cafe. Cabins, hotel suites, and dorm-style rooms are available.
North of Kenai, near Cooper Landing is "K'beq" (meaning, “footprints”), a cultural interpretive site of the Dena'ina Athabascan tradition. Archeological sites next to “Kahtnu” (the Kenai River) help tourists learn about artifacts from the descendants of those who made them.
Featuring local legends like Peter Kalifornsky, a Dena'ina writer and storyteller, who recorded as many stories as he could remember in the Dena'ina language and translated them into English.
Traditional baked salmon dinners and drumming/dancing performances are common at K'Beq. Through the tribe's educational fishery, you can learn Native Alaskan methods of setnetting, and preserving fish.
Seward, 100 miles east, and Homer, 90 miles south of Kenai, are also worthwhile destinations. Seward is the home of the Alaska Sea Life Center, an aquarium and educational center developed after the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in 1989. Homer, called “the end of the road,” is as far as you can drive in the Northwestern United States. You can go farther by ferry, or private watercraft, crossing Kachemak Bay from Homer to visit the Native villages of Seldovia, Port Graham, and Nondalton.
Like Kenai, these coastal towns offer a plethora of cultural attractions, which we will cover soon in: "Alaska's Kenai Peninsula – Road Trip: Part 2."