6 Best Sights in The Kenai Peninsula and Southcentral Alaska, Alaska

Home to one of the largest collections of Alaska Native materials in the world, the Alutiiq Museum contains archaeological and ethnographic items dating back 7,500 years. The more than 150,000 artifacts include harpoons, masks, dolls, stone tools, seal-gut parkas, grass baskets, and pottery fragments. The museum store sells Alaska Native art and educational materials.

Located in the Cordova Center, the Cordova Historical Museum documents early explorers to the area, Alaska Native culture, the Kennicott Mine and Copper River and Northwestern Railway era, and the growth of the commercial fishing industry. Additionally, the museum often features touring exhibits by Alaskan and (occasionally) non-Alaskan artists. The gift shop sells local postcards, Cordova and Alaska gifts, and regional history books.

Formerly the Baranov Museum, this spot has been designed to collect, educate about, and inform on the many diverse perspectives and stories of Kodiak's rich past—from the 7,500 years of Alutiiq history to the role of the region in World War II. The museum’s permanent and temporary exhibits are housed in an old building first commissioned in the 1800s by Alexander Baranov, the chief manager for the fur-trading Russian-American Company. This building is considered the oldest building in the state that is not an Alaska Native structure.

Seward's museum, community center, and library is a one-stop attraction, with the museum just downstairs from the library. The museum displays art by prominent Alaskan artists as well as relics that weave together the stories of the gold rush, Russian settlements, Alaska Native history, and the upheaval created by the 1964 earthquake. A movie illustrating the disaster and one about the Iditarod Trail are played back-to-back daily.

Exhibits at this downtown museum explore the history of mountain climbing in Denali as well as the town's eclectic history. Residents founded the organization in 1972 to protect the original Talkeetna schoolhouse. The group publishes a walking-tour map and operates a gift area, too.

The museum has two sections, the Egan and the Hazelet, named after their respective streets. The highlights of the museum at 436 S. Hazelet include a 35- by 40-foot model of what Old Town looked like before the 1964 earthquake and artifacts of the historic event that registered 9.5 on the Richter scale. An award-winning film that screens often describes the quake. Two blocks away, the 217 Egan site explores the lives, livelihoods, and events significant to Valdez and surrounding regions. On display are a restored 1880s Gleason & Bailey hand-pump fire engine, a 1907 Ahrens steam fire engine, and a 19th-century saloon, and there are exhibits about local Alaska Native culture, early explorers, bush pilots, and the 1989 oil spill. Every summer the museum hosts an exhibit of quilts and fiber arts made by local and regional artisans, and other exhibits are presented seasonally.