A Little Piece of Russia

We meandered down Main St on our way to Safeway this morning for eggs and bagels and had breakfast in their cafe. We really wish the sun would stay out. Today we decided to drive to Anchor Point. We took the Sterling Highway to Old Sterling Highway and drove along the road winding through marsh and ponds. This is the furthest west point of the highway system in North America. Houses and rough cabins dotted the way. A bridge took us across the Anchor River and we arrived in the tiny community. The town received its name after Captain Cook’s ships Resolution and Discovery lost a kedge anchor to the tremendous currents of the area back in 1787.

We decided to take North Fork Drive and followed this through woods until we saw Novalesk Dr. We turned left and came to the small Russian Village of Old Believers, known as Nikolaevsk. The village is made up of 297 descendents of the Old Believers who emigrated from Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The village road is dotted with modest homes and large gardens. They keep the Russian Orthodox traditions here. The women and girls still wear ankle length skirts and head scarves, Russian is the 1st language, and the church dictates that males do not shave. Town was very small and centered around the simple Blue & White Russian Church with a gold dome.

Retracing our steps back to the Old Sterling Highway the road turned to dirt and we drove up and over hills with lush green valley views. The brush looks like grass from a distance but its not. The brush here can be 6 feet tall. Very thick weeds, blooming wild flowers, and thick bushes make this an extremely dense area. The road connected up to the Sterling Highway again, which we followed home.

Lots of Rvs are heading out of Homer now but the campground is still full. Its very windy and only 53 degrees.

This was a great day.

Photos: Spit Main Street Shops (2), Looking up Main Street from camp, Campground (2), Novalesk Church