Located on the Arctic Ocean, Barrow is one of the largest Eskimo settlements in Alaska. It’s also the farthest north frontier settlement in the United States and boasts 24-hour daylight when the sun rises on May 10 and does not set again until August 2.
During the summer months, tour operators offer package tours of the area that can include viewing polar bears, photographing snowy owls or learning about the North Slope’s traditional culture at the Inupiat Heritage Center, where you can also purchase arts and crafts such as baleen boats, etched baleen, carved ivory, masks, parkas and fur mittens. Visitors also may see Eskimos heading for whale camps in April and May. Despite the fact that the village is very much in step with modern times, hunting of whales, seals, walrus, caribou and ducks is still important for both traditional and economic reasons. If the whalers are successful, there is a festival called “Nalukataq” when the season ends in May. Year round, visitors can explore the Inupiat Heritage Center to learn more about the Native people and subsistence whaling.
The Will Rogers and Wiley Post Monument, dedicated in 1982 to commemorate the 1935 airplane crash of the American humorist and the famous pilot, is located across from the airport. The accident occurred 15 miles southwest of Barrow, a planned stop on their trip from Fairbanks to Siberia. Two monuments, both on the National Register of Historic Places, are located where the men died.
Other sites on the National Register of Historic Places are the Cape Smythe Whaling and Trading Station in nearby Browerville and the Birnirk archaeological site approximately two miles north of the Barrow airfield. Cape Smythe was built as a whaling station in 1893 and is the oldest frame building in the Arctic. The Birnirk culture, which existed about 500-900 A.D., is represented by a group of 16 dwelling mounds and is considered a key link between the prehistoric cultures of Alaska and Canada.