Ninilchik, AK

Ninilchik is a Kenai Peninsula community with a layered Russian and Alaska Native history. A Russian village near the mouth of the Ninilchik River was established in the early nineteenth century, and the Russian language that developed there absorbed local Native influences and continued long after the Alaska Purchase. The Ninilchik Traditional Council now represents the Alaska Native community, while the old village, Russian Orthodox church, river, and beach give the place its recognizable outline. Add the annual Kenai Peninsula Fair and the bald eagles that gather around the area, and Ninilchik comes into focus as a fishing-and-farming village where several histories remain visible at once.