July 24 – There were still two museums
left to see in Haines and since we were still recovering from our day of
outdoor adventure we were ready for some museum time. Our first stop was the
American Bald Eagle Foundation’s museum. Not really a museum it featured a
large display with over 100 animals displayed in a ‘natural’ setting. While
they had many stuffed bald eagles, there really wasn’t any information on
them. The foundation was a major force in having a bald eagle refuge of 48,000
acres created near Haines. Not terribly impressed with the eagle museum, we
hoped for better results at our next museum which featured 1,200 hammers (talk
about a hobby
gone out of control!) Yes, this was the hammer museum,
featuring just about every kind of hammer you can imagine, all crammed into a
little building.
The owner’s wife gave a brief tour, explaining the uses
of some of the stranger hammers. Among the more interesting hammers were the
double claw (easier to pull nails out with), the poster tackers (extra long
handle to put ads up high), and the around the corner hammer. There was also a
triple claw hammer although in the patent application the manufacturer
describes the extra claws as decorative and pleasing to the eye. The collection
also included blacksmith’s hammers, railroad hammers, crate opening hammers and
what is presumed to be an over 800 year old local Indian hammer head.
Having run out of museums to visit, we drove
over to a place that probably should be a museum of some kind – Fort William H.
Seward. The army had built this fort around 1903 and it was used until 1947
when it was sold off as surplus. Unlike a traditional fort, there were no big
walls, guard towers or lines of machine guns. It was hoped that the mere presence
of a fort would keep the Canadians from encroaching on the as yet undetermined
border between the U.S. and Canada. The fort sat on 400 acres and looked like
its own little town on a hill with a big sloping parade ground in the middle.
Officers lived in large homes above the parade grounds while the enlisted men
lived in one of two giant barracks buildings. There were also numerous support
buildings. When the fort was sold off, five World War II veterans bought it
sight unseen and tried to create a planned community. While they never
realized their dream, they did manage to preserve the fort for some time. Over
the years the buildings were sold off as residences and in 1970 the fort was
merged into the city of Haines and received national historic site designation.
On the grounds of the fort is the Alaskan Indian
Arts center, a workshop where native craftsmen practice their crafts and pass
them on to new generations. The fort was also the home to the Chilkat Dancers,
a group that performed native dances for visitors for over 40 years. The group
disbanded several years ago, but a new group started by one of its original
members has sprung up in its place. While the original Chilkat Dancers told
their stories in dance, this new group uses a story telling format with a
narrator, spoken parts, and background music. The costumes were very nice and
the overall presentation was done quite well with very limited resources.
Our final stop for the day was Dalton City, just
a half mile from Haines. Not really a city at all, it’s actually the
fairgrounds for the South East Alaska State Fair and the ‘city’ is a recreated
frontier town street with false front buildings that
house vendors during the fair. While it is not occupied year ‘round it does have
one very important tenant – the Haines Brewing Company. The owner refers to it
as the smallest production brewery in the country. They don’t have bottling
equipment, instead you buy a re-sealable bottle and then they fill it with the
brew of your choice. Whenever you want more, you just bring the bottle back
and have it refilled. We sampled the four brews that they had (the selection
is always changing) and decided to take home some of their spruce tip beer (and
it’s high in vitamin C!)