The Story of Sitka: The Historic Outpost of the Northwest Coast; The Chief Factory of the Russian American CompanyAndrews, Clarence Leroy
History
The Story of Sitka: The Historic Outpost of the Northwest Coast; The Chief Factory of the Russian American Company
Andrews, Clarence Leroy
Sitka (Alaska)
occupied by the Lutheran Church, built in the time of Etolin, and in
which the first church service was held by Chaplain Rainier of the U. S.
Army, after the American occupation.
[Illustration: Interior of Cathedral of St. Michael]
Across the street is the Cathedral of St. Michael, the headquarters of
the Greek Orthodox Church in Alaska. In the Territory are claimed to be
ten thousand communicants of that faith and from Sitka the management of
affairs is conducted. The church is in the form of a cross and is
surmounted by the Greek cross. The interior is richly decorated after
the usual custom of the Russian churches. Candlesticks of massive design
stand at either side of the doors of the inner sanctuary. The building,
with its dome, is distinctive, and is a good example of Russian church
architecture.[30]
Continuing east along Lincoln Street a short distance beyond the
Cathedral a vacant space on the right marks the spot formerly occupied
by the clubhouse, built by Etolin for a home for the clerks, navigators,
and other employes of the Company--opposite it was situated the foundry
and machine shops, while a little farther to the east stood the
sawmills, at the mouth of the outlet to Swan Lake. Along this stream was
the eastern boundary of the stockade of the Russian fort, with a
blockhouse near the point of the lower end of the lake. East of this
stockade were the kitchen gardens, but all traces of them have long
since vanished. Continuing along the street following the shore, the
Bishop's house is passed on the left, where the Russian school is
taught, and a short distance beyond is the house of the Episcopal Bishop
of the diocese, Rev. Bishop P. T. Rowe. Still farther to the east is the
Sheldon Jackson School, the Presbyterian Mission School, consisting of a
group of buildings, the first of which was completed in 1880, under the
superintendence of Rev. Alonzo Austin, and others have been added from
time to time until the present fine establishment has resulted. An
octagonal structure shelters the Sheldon Jackson Museum, a fine
collection of native work of many kinds, gathered from all parts of
Alaska by the first superintendent of native schools for the Territory.
A small paper is published by the mission, the _Verstovian_, and is
printed by the native students of the institution.
Opposite the mission, at the edge of the curving beach, a large,
flat-topped rock lies at the side of the way, called the Blarney Stone.
On this it is said that Baranof often sat, during the last year of his
residence here, and looked out through the vistas between the islands to
the broad Pacific. What were the thoughts of the brave, strong, strange,
old man as he sat here will never be known, but it is sure that there
was much of sadness for him in those days.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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