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| Front porch of a Talkeetna log cabin, near Anchorage, Alaska. |
From Bearfoot: Where To See Log Cabins In Alaska: Talkeetna Is A Log Cabin Town Near Anchorage
Only two hours north of Anchorage, off the Parks Highway, this little railroad town was isolated for many years.
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| This historic 2-story log cabin in Talkeetna is also a "house museum." |
It's at the confluence of the Susitna, Chulitna and Talkeetna Rivers. It got its start in 1915, at the same time as Anchorage, and for the same reason: to help build the new Alaska Railroad that ran from the ocean, at Seward, up to the Interior town of Fairbanks.
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| Tom Weatherbell's Talkeetna cabin. |
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Anchorage eventually became Alaska's largest city. Talkeetna remained a quiet trading, trapping, and railroading town. It remained off the road system for many years. Its buildings reflect that. They're a mix of authentic railroad buildings and little log cabins.
Almost all of them are right where they were built. And the Talkeetna Historical Society has done a good job of putting up signs and placards telling you their history.
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| "Old" Talkeetna barn | |
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| Same barn after reconstruction. |
Talkeetna people take their role of guarding the town's historic buildings very seriously. Here, for example, an old barn behind the Talkeetna Roadhouse is shown as it was several years ago, and as it is now. The red logs are the "old" version. Local people numbered all the logs in order, took down the barn, sanded it, and reassembled it, and replacing old foundations, and rotting wood.
The respect with which Talkeetna people treat their cabins stems from a community understanding that log-building is a way of life. It's part of Alaska -- and part of Talkeetna, itself.
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| You can go into the doorway of the historic Ole Dahl Cabin in Talkeetna. |
