Angoon Alive Project

Angoon makes up part of Southeast Alaska’s , “Inside Passage,” a series of islands surrounded by mountains and icy-deep fjords and bays. Located in Prince Admiralty Island’s, Tongass National Forest, the village of Angoon remains the ONLY city in the entire United States that’s located on a national monument. With eagles and ravens filling the skies, the dichotomy is arresting: pristine land, yet poor village. But nonetheless, a people rich in so many ways. And when a Tlingit from Angoon is asked if they ever get bored with gazing at the snow-capped mountain, killer whales, and sunsets, they just smile and say “never.”

Of the three major tribes in Southeast Alaska—Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian—the Tlingits remain the largest, numbering at over 14,000. The word, “Tlingit,” means “man” or “human,” originally used by a Tlingit to differentiate between a man or an animal approaching in the distance. Feared by early Russian fur traders and loved by their own, the Tlingits are courageous, creative, and have a tremendous sense of pride in who they are. And should they sense your sincerity and invite you “in”—you will immediately find them to be some of the most affectionate and fun-loving people.

The Tlingit tribe is divided into two groups, or “moieties:” the raven moiety and eagle moiety. You are born into your moiety, which is always determined by your motherʼs moiety (matrilineal society). To understand the eagle and raven moiety is the beginning of understanding much of the Tlingits rich culture—from totem poles displaying family lineage (as a family crest would in another culture), to the ceremonial feasts, to the various art forms. And the earliest explorers of the eighteenth century wondered, who were these people who carved their canoes with the same quality that Europeans carved their statues?

Life in Angoon is a life of honoring the way the “old timers” once lived. And chief among this way, is “subsistence living,” or simply stated, “living off the land.” Not just for food, but for clothing and the materials for arts and crafts, and even fuel. With very little body fat, but tremendous strength, the average Tlingit loves nothing more than hunting and fishing, and then sharing all that theyʼve hunted and caught.

The village of Angoon is so excited about excited about community revitalization and Angoon Alive Project, that they have offered a building built to house local artifacts but never used, for us to use as the Farmer’s market. The building is approximately 2,000 square feet, and provides just the right amount of space. Photos of interior and renovation plans will be available soon.