Sights

Wrangell [1] is home to the oldest Protestant church building in Alaska, the First Presbyterian Church, as well as the oldest Roman Catholic parish, St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. Appropriately located on Church Street, both were founded in 1879. The large red neon cross atop the Presbyterian church is one of only two in the world used as a navigational aid (the other is in Rio de Janeiro [2]).

Keep your eyes open for local kids selling garnets for $0.25 to $10, depending on the size. They put up tables at the museum and on the cruise ship dock when ships are in port. These imperfect but attractive stones come from a garnet ledge along the Stikine River [3], deeded to the Boy Scouts in 1962 by a former mayor. At one time the mine was owned by the Alaska Garnet Mining and Manufacturing Company, the world’s first women-only corporation.