With gravestones dating back to the Russian-American era in the 1800s and on through today, Sitka’s cemeteries document the community’s history.
Sitka National Cemetery, located on a hillside off Sawmill Creek Road, was the first national cemetery in the United States west of the Mississippi River. It’s located just past the Jeff Davis Street and Geodetic Way intersections with Sawmill Creek Road. The cemetery site was chosen by Gen. Jefferson Davis, a military commander here following the transfer of Alaska claims from Russia to the United States in 1867, and was created by executive order on June 1, 1924.
The most visited grave site in town is likely that of Princess Maksoutov, the first wife of Prince Dimitri Maksoutov, the Russian-American Company manager in 1867 when the Alaska claims were transferred to the United States.
The grave is in the Lutheran Cemetery at the end of Princess Way, a short street located downtown near the intersection of Seward and Marine streets. (See inset on map on back page.)
The Russian Cemetery – a wooded, two-block area with an entrance at the end of Observatory Street – is adjacent to the Lutheran Cemetery. Most of the grave sites there belong to Tlingits, with some dating to the 1800s.
Sitkan Robert Sam, himself a Tlingit, has long led efforts to clean up and maintain the cemeteries.
Over the years, Sam also has overseen the reburial of remains that were unearthed during work on a housing development on what was Sheldon Jackson property near Indian River.
Other graves are located in the Russian Orthodox Cemetery off the 200 block of Marine Street near the Russian blockhouse.
Other cemeteries include Sitka Memorial Park (the city cemetery), Moose Cemetery and the Pioneers Home Cemetery, all in the area of Sitka National Cemetery; and on Japonski Island there are the Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital mausoleums and the mysterious John Brown’s grave.
