Anchorage Historic Walking
Tour
(Printer
version Anchorage Historic Walking Tour)
Downtown Anchorage
is
nearly flat, making for a delightful stroll. Throughout the summer, hanging
floral baskets line the streets.
Start at the Log Cabin Visitor Information Center, where friendly volunteers
answer questions, and provide maps for your walking tour. Racks of
brochures line the walls to inform you about all facets of Alaskan Adventure.
The marble statue in front of Old City Hall
next
door honors William Seward. Along 4th Avenue are some of Anchorage's original
buildings including the 4th Avenue Theater built in 1947. Some of the buildings
are dated from 1920, when Anchorage was incorporated.
Cater corner from
the
Old City Hall is the Alaska Public Lands information Center, one of four in the
state that provide information on all of Alaska's public lands. Take F Street
north downhill to 2nd Avenue, the site of original town-site homes built by the
Alaska Engineering Commission, which also built the Alaska Railroad in the early
1900s. Walk east along 2nd Avenue past the Eisenhower Memorial to a set of
stairs leading down to the Alaska Railroad depot. Salmon run up Ship Creek,
north of the depot, all summer.
The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, is a
recreational
trail that begins west of 2nd Avenue and curls along Cook Inlet. Follow 2nd
Avenue to K Street, go south a block to 3rd Avenue, and follow 3rd Avenue
westward to Resolution Park, with its statue of Captain Cook. From here you can
admire the grand vistas over Cook Inlet to Mt. McKinley and other peaks in the
Alaska Range. The Oscar Anderson House Museum, off the coastal trail at the
north end of Elderberry Park, was Anchorage's first permanent frame house, built
in 1915 by city butcher Oscar Anderson.
If young travelers
are
getting restless, head back up the 5th Avenue hill to the Imaginarium, an
experiential science museum with a great gift shop. Walk down 5th Avenue, past
the Egan Convention Center, whose lobby has several modern Native Alaskan
sculptures. Across the street is a park (Town Square) that's packed with flowers
in the summer, and just southwest of it is the Alaska Center for the Performing
Arts.
Continue down 6th Ave past the Kimball
building
one of Anchorage’s first commercial buildings built in 1915 and the Alaska State
Troopers Museum. A Street and 7th Avenue is the location for the entrance to the
Anchorage Museum of History and Art, which occupies the whole block between 6th
and 7th avenues. The red metal sculpture out front is a favorite hide-and-seek
site for children. The Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery is located at 535 East
9th Ave and celebrates many people’s lives that built the Last Frontier.
Cost: Inquire for
more information
More Anchorage tours and activities:
Alaska Native Heritage Center
Anchorage Museum of History and Art
Anchorage - Chugach Mountains Flightseeing Tour
Anchorage to Denali National Park Alaska Flightseeing Tour
Katmai National Park Bear Viewing
Redoubt Bay Bear Viewing
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tour or
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