The Sitka Maritime Heritage Society

The Sitka Maritime Heritage Society is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization, founded in Sitka, Alaska in 1999. The mission of the SMHS is to preserve and to educate the public about the maritime heritage of Sitka, Alaska and surrounding waters.

Our main goal is the rehabilitation of the Japonski Island Marine Ways building in central Sitka, Alaska as a working maritime heritage center for the region.

Building's History

Japonski Island is adjacent to the town of Sitka, Alaska. The Japonski Island Marine Ways was built just before World War II as part of the Sitka Naval Air Station. The Air Station, later a Naval Operating Base, and its Harbor Defenses are now a National Historic Landmark, as the only defense installation on the North Pacific when the United States entered World War II.
After the war the military facilities including the boathouse were turned over to the Department of the Interior for reuse as a tuberculosis sanitarium and boarding school for Alaska Natives. The boathouse was used for maintaining the “shore boats,” the ferries that connected Japonski Island to the town of Sitka (there is now a bridge). The building has been vacant since the early 1980s.

Plan for Rehabilitation

The building, as part of a National Historic Landmark, will be restored to historic preservation standards. The marine ways (boat haul out) will be restored,and the public will be able to view work on historic boats. One wing will house hands-on historical exhibits on maritime heritage, such as commercial fishing. A small addition on the back will house a lobby and gift shop. The facility will have programs such as historical research, boat and canoe building, and navigation classes. Outside, the community’s traditional Tlingit canoe will be stored, and a public kayak and rowboat storage/launching float will be a marine trail head for accessing the World War II Causeway portion of the NHL, accessible only by water. Interpretive signs and the building itself will tell about World War II in Sitka and the history and significance of the Naval Air Station and its U.S. Army Harbor Defenses.

Need for the Maritime Heritage Center

· It will focus on education, especially hands-on education for youth in boat building and boat handling skills – helping develop a sense of place, identity, and competence

· We see our unique way of life slipping away as we become more like everywhere else. This will save our material culture, and traditions, skills and knowledge

· World War II history and maritime history of Sitka are important, and mostly undocumented. There is a wealth of tradition and information the older generation is eager to pass on to younger people

· There are no WWII or maritime heritage interpretation centers in southeastern Alaska

· Hands-on, interactive, living history exhibits are great for teaching history, both for local people and for visitors understanding

· There will be opportunities for programs with local colleges and schools

· The SMHS is dedicated to authenticity, education, and preserving local culture

· Preserves the building and the historic landscape of central Sitka, and interprets a National Historic Landmark – currently unmarked, uninterpreted

· Economic: there will be direct employment at the center and indirectly through bringing heritage travelers to town, for longer stays

· It can assist fishermen through agency for historic boat tours, and through discounted haul outs for historic boats

· Designed to be self-sustaining through entry fee, rentals, classes, donations

Save America's Treasures Grant Award

In October 2005, the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society was awarded a Save America's Treasures grant for $325,000. The project was one of only 32 historic properties and 29 collections selected nationwide for the awards by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the National Park Service, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The SMHS is now raising the rest of the funds needed – estimated at just under a million dollars – through application to charitable foundations and local and regional fund raising.

National Scenic Byways Grant Award $91,064

In December 2007 the Alaska Congressional delegation announced the U.S. Department of Transportation National Scenic Byways Program grant of $91,064 to the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society. This money is for the architectural and engineering work for the Japonski Island Boathouse rehabilitation.

This grant program is designed to enhance the experiences of travelers on National Scenic Byways, through preserving and interpreting natural and cultural resources. The Alaska Marine Highway is an All-American Road, the highest designation of significance in the program. The elements that qualify the Alaska Marine Highway for this status are the very things the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society are focusing on in the Boathouse maritime heritage center project – the history, culture and vessels of the local waterways.

The actual funding will be available in the spring. Meanwhile, the SMHS will be developing a request for proposals to architectural firms for the design work.

This funding is important also in getting to the point of approaching major regional private foundations, especially in combination with previous grants and fund raising.

Tourism Cares

The Sitka Maritime Heritage Society was proud to be awarded a $10,000 grant from the organization Tourism Cares in the spring of 2007. From their press release:

As part of its mission, Tourism Cares distributes grants three times a year to worthy nonprofit organizations worldwide. Of 200 applicants, 7 were selected based on the recommendations of a Blue Ribbon Panel advising Tourism Cares. Tourism Cares extended its scope for the first round of 2007 with four of the seven grants going to overseas sites.

Tourism Cares granted $10,000 to the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society to support the historic restoration and adaptive re-use of Japonski Island Marine Ways Building to the Maritime Heritage Center. The building was constructed just prior to World War II for the Sitka Naval Air Station. The Air Station, a recognized National Historic Landmark, was the only defense installation in the North Pacific when the United States entered World War II. The building, vacant since the early 1980s, is being restored to historic preservation standards and converted into the Maritime Heritage Center, which will present interactive educational exhibits.

“Tourism-related entities from around the world apply for Tourism Cares Worldwide Grant funding. The restoration of this historic World War II building in Sitka, Alaska will educate current visitors and future generations about the region’s maritime heritage.” said Bruce Beckham, Executive Director of Tourism Cares.

Tourism Cares is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity that brings people together to give back through grants to natural, cultural and historic sites around the world, through scholarships and educational programs that nurture tourism’s future workforce and through volunteering to help preserve and restore tourism-related sites in need of care and rejuvenation. For additional information about Tourism Cares, please visit www.tourismcares.org.

Volunteers Needed

There is still work to be done, repairing windows and wrapping up the inventory and storage of the building's contents. In addition, the SMHS holds many events, for fund raising, fun and always for maritime heritage. The newsletter, this website, cookie baking, fish grilling and general organizing and helping out are all valuable ways you can volunteer. To volunteer, call 747-3448.

Work on the Building to Date

Over the summer of 2006 volunteers and a contractor completely replaced the foundation under the two wings, which involved some new beams and joists and all new posts and concrete pads.

Over the summer of 2005, crews of volunteers and contractors cleaned, painted, stabilized and repaired the building. Other work completed to date includes a professional Building Condition Survey, Environmental Assessment, Business Plan, Schematic Design (with public participation) and cost estimate, and the transfer of the property to the City and Borough of Sitka for lease to our group for this project.

Now under way is an interpretive sign for the Landmark, telling about the location and significance of the Naval Air Base. Work is continuing on the archiving and cleaning of the interior. We are still an all volunteer organization, but hope to achieve major fund raising in the next year to begin design, rehabilitation and construction.

Other Activities of the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society

We sell t-shirts and grilled fish at Alaska Day, held a reception for the 2007 Sitka Sound Ocean Adventure Race, and sponsor rowing and kayaking races on the Fourth of July. Our annual meeting in early spring presents local maritime history, usually in the format of an oral history panel. In 2004 the program was on Lituya Bay, and in 2005 was on Cannery Life, with a panel talking about their memories of life at Sitkoh and other canneries. The 2006 topic was the Shore Boats, the ferries between the federal community of Mt. Edgecumbe and Sitka, which were maintained in the boathouse. See the current activities page for more information on the 2007 annual meeting, on seining. The latest issue of our newsletter is here. We are also engaged in researching and recording oral history of Sitka's maritime history.

Our Benefactors

2007:

· Tourism Cares - $10,000 grant. This organization funds projects all over the world that preserve heritage and cultural resources. The Sitka Maritime Heritage Society is one of only 7 projects awarded grants this cycle, from over 200 applicants. www.tourismcares.org.

· Skaggs Foundation - $1,000

· Mary Sue Rose - $1,000

· Sitka's Beta Sigma Phi's annual art auction, which raised $7,400 for the SMHS

· Sitka Sound Ocean Adventure Race, raised $1,000 for the SMHS

· Crescent Plumbing, which is repairing and setting up one of the furnaces in the building for heat for events.

2006 and before:

· Federal Historic Preservation Fund, and the City and Borough of Sitka (as a Certified Local Government) which contributed the administration for early grants.

· The National Trust for Historic Preservation: matching for initial grant

· Alaska Association for Historic Preservation, several grants for matching federal grants

· The City and Borough of Sitka now owns the property, because the SMHS initiated the process to have it transferred from the State of Alaska. The city is now leasing it to the SMHS for this project.

· Local volunteers and businesses have donated materials and thousands of hours of work and services, essential for matching federal grants

· Peter Gorman, donated environmental engineering services

· Our members!

How to Become a Member

To become a member of the SMHS, and receive our (mostly) quarterly newsletter, and a discount on shirts and hats, send a check for $30 for a basic membership ($10 seniors and students, $40 whole crew, or join at the $50 or $100 level, or any amount you are comfortable with) with your name and address and email address, and whether you would like to receive the newsletter by email link, to

Sitka Maritime Heritage Society (or SMHS)
P. O. Box 2153
Sitka, Alaska, 99835

Donations toward construction fund also welcome!