A hundred and fifty years ago this town was called Novo Arkhangelsk. It was the capital of Tsarist Russia’s Alaska. The United States had not much to do with Russia in those days. Nothing sinister, at least. On the contrary: Secretary of State Seward was smart enough to buy all of Russian America for a lump sum when it came on the market in 1867 or thereabouts.
The Russians, consequently, are gone but they left their religion behind. That is why there are still enough orthodox faithful in Sitka, and why there is still a beautifully furnished and decorated Russian orthodox cathedral in the middle of town, presided over by a real bishop.
I stopped by last week to see this living museum of a time gone by. A lady was collecting the small entrance fee at the door. I greeted her with a cheerful ZDRUUFFTS-vooyete — how-do-you-do — which drew a blank. I tried the more folksy kak-DYELLO — what’s cooking — but made no contact. So I guess the Russians really did leave.
This out-of-the-way city, once known as the Paris of the West Coast, is quite pretty. It rains a lot, hence everything looks clean and the front yards are full of flowers. It is an orderly city, too. When I asked some one if there is a grocery store anywhere I got clear instruction: over there, on Baranoff street behind that yellow house! And sure enough, at the corner of Lincoln and Baranoff streets there were two large arrow shaped signs on a lamp post. One said BISHOP’S HOUSE, the other one, same size, same type face said GROCERY STORE. No way to get lost in Sitka.
The city is clean on the inside as well. There are only seven bars, I was told, but twenty-seven churches. And healthy food matters to the locals. I know that because the tour guide could not suppress a derogatory remark when the bus passed a MacDonald’s. She thought the big sign next to the hamburger joint, pointing in the other direction, was quite à propos. It said EMERGENCY.
(c) 2017 by Herbert H. Hoffman
Picture credit: markhitstheroad.com