Nature Is Reclaiming This One Abandoned Alaska Spot And It’s Actually Amazing
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Casea Peterson
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King Island is a small chunk of land in the Bering Sea just off the western shores of Alaska. The island is only a mile wide with steep cliff faces on all sides. It is just 40 miles off shore from Cape Douglas and only 90 miles from Nome. The history of the village crumbling with the cliffs of this island into the sea is a unique and culturally rich tale.
King Island was first discovered by James Cook in 1778 and was named after Lt. James King, a member of his European party. After its discovery, King Island became home to a small community of Inupiat, a hunter-gatherer tribe of the Inuit people.
The famous crumbling village on the slopes of King Island is called Ukivok, and the people there called themselves Aseuluk, meaning "people of the sea."
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The summer months were meant for hunting, fishing, and keeping up on other subsistence activities while the winter months, with the relatively short days, were referred to as the time of dance. For example, the month of December was referred to as the time of drumming.
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The people that lived in the village of Ukivok were eventually forced to relocated to Nome on the mainland. The school was moved off the island so the children had to live in Nome for schooling instead of spending their time hunting and gathering. The relocation of the school forced the small community of 200 Aseuluk people to relocated Nome in order to survive.
By 1970, all King Island people had moved to Nome and the village of Ukivok lay abandoned and deteriorating on the cliffs of the Island. The cultural identity of the Aseuluk people is still strong though they no longer live on King Island, and their home, though it is being reclaimed by nature, is a reminder of who they are and the impressive lifestyle they lived to survive.
Have you heard about this village before? Did you live here or did you know someone who lived here?
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