The Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage

Aboriginal Cultures from Southeast Alaska to the North Slope

Jul 3, 2009 Monika Fuchs

Learn more about Alaskan cultures of the rainforest, Athabascan people of the Interior, the Aleuts and Inuit from the north at the Alaska Heritage Center in Anchorage.

The native cultures of Alaska are as diverse as the regions of this great land. Along the southeast coast the people of the rainforest thrive in sumptuous surroundings with lucsious forests and rivers and creeks teeming with fish. In the interior of Alaska extreme winter colds and summer heat makes live hard to adapt to, but the Athabascan people do that in a way which has been developed over hundreds of years. There is not much vegetation to be found on the remote islands of the Aleutian chain, but the people living there make the most of what mother nature offers them and they are masters of survival in a very harsh environment. And last but not least there are the Inuit cultures of the Northwest and the North Slope who have developed their own very distinctive way of live in the rough country they live in on the outer edges of Alaskas northern regions.

Living Cultures of Alaskan Native Peoples

The indigenous people of the north have developed very distinctive ways of living suitable for their surroundings and they keep using them today. They present them in different native village sites around Lake Tiulana outside of Anchorage. In daily shows visitors can learn more about traditional native culture in daily performances of indigenous games, dances and storytelling. Films on aboriginal traditions, stories and wisdom enhance the insight gained during a visit at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

The Center is supported by elders from different native peoples from all over Alaska who want to increase understanding among non-natives for their way of living, and they want to show that their traditional ways are no thing of the past but very much alive in the present.

Opening Times and Directions to the Alaska Native Heritage Center

The Center is located in northeast Anchorage and can easily be reached via the Glenn Highway. Just take Muldoon Road North and follow the brown signs to the Center. The Center is open during the summer from May 10 to mid-September with opening times from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is a free shuttle service from downtown to the Center which travels four times a day and leaves - among other stops - from the log house visitor center in downtown Anchorage. During the winter the Alaska Native Heritage Center is closed to the general public and only open for monthly events and on Saturdays from 10.00 a.m. to 5 p.m. More information on the exhibits and events is available at (907) 330-8000 and toll-free at (800) 315-6608.

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