Palmer, AK

Palmer is the borough seat of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, about 42 miles northeast of Anchorage in the Matanuska Valley. The city is strongly associated with the Matanuska Colony story and with Alaska agriculture, which still shows up every year at the Alaska State Fair. The Palmer Museum, the Matanuska Colony Historic District, and nearby Hatcher Pass give it more texture than a simple Anchorage-area commuter town. Palmer feels civic, agricultural, and mountain-framed.