Saxman, AK

Saxman is a small city on Revillagigedo Island in southeastern Alaska, about two miles south of Ketchikan. The 2020 census counted 384 residents. The community is Tlingit, and its municipal life is closely connected to the Organized Village of Saxman, a federally recognized tribe. Tlingit families from Cape Fox and Tongass villages moved to the site in the late nineteenth century to build a school and church, and the place incorporated in 1929. Ketchikan remains the nearest larger center, reached by the South Tongass Highway.

ATTRThomson M / CC BY 3.0

Saxman Totem Park is the city's best-known public place, with historic poles moved from abandoned villages and newer work by Tlingit carvers. Civilian Conservation Corps artists worked in Saxman from 1938 to 1941, and the park's poles and clan house keep that carving tradition visible. The harbor, forested hills, floatplanes, and boats give the city a Southeast Alaska setting, while the tribal government and cultural park make the place more than a suburb of Ketchikan. Saxman is a living Tlingit community with a city boundary, a harbor, and a public art landscape rooted in clan history.