Nanwalek

Nanwalek, “the place with a lagoon”, lies on the southern shore of Cook Inlet, where the Kenai Peninsula faces the waters of the Gulf of Alaska. Alutiiq families lived along this coast and moved between settlements and seasonal camps to harvest the resources of land and sea. In 1786 men of Grigorii Shelikhov’s fur-trading company established the fort of Aleksandrovsk here, linking the inlet to their operations on Kodiak Island.

The new post became caught in the rivalry between Russian trading companies. In 1793 men of Lebedev-Lastochkin’s company arrived with Dena’ina allies, assaulted local inhabitants and seized furs, though they failed to take the fort. The following year high tides and decaying buildings forced its occupants to move the post uphill. The fortress closed by 1818, while Nanwalek remained an Alutiiq home.