So we’ve learned a few really cool and interesting things about our beach cabin from neighbors. It’s been really neat learning the history of the place!

The Trees

40 years ago the cabin was surrounded by a manicured and mowed every summer lawn. None of the trees surrounding it existed! My best guess is that the porcupine (and its family) who lived here before us accidentally planted the trees dragging in pinecones and pooping seeds.

The Bluff

I knew it has been eroding over the years, but apparently it used to be another 30 feet out. I used the borough GIS map to find the property corners and the front are on the beach. You can see in the above and below images how much farther out it used to be! The good news is we also learned from the neighbors that the bluff hasn’t eroded in the last 5 years-ish. Here’s hoping that trend continues to give our willow trees a chance to grow and mitigate future erosion.

The Airport

I’ve seen the remnants of a refueling station on the point, but also learned there used to be a mail drop here as well! And there used to be a telephone line there. The remains of the line have apparently eroded into the ocean.

The History of Canneries

There used to be dozens of canneries for packing salmon along the Cook Inlet. We were told there even used to be a small rail line that picked up salmon from all the fish camps to take them to the canneries! Henry J. Emard built a cannery at Moose Point in 1924 that operated for one year before being moved to Anchorage. Edward Gustan had his plant at Point Possession from 1928-2931. Sunset Packing Co. started a one-line cannery at Otter Creek that operated between 1928 and 1929 and Point Possession Fish Co. operated between 1929-1931 at Point Possession. Newspapers archives were great when researching the history of local canneries!

The Plane Crash

This one took me forever to find any information about. I was told that a previous owner of this property had rolled a plane on the beach when his wheels caught fishing gear while landing. After combing through accident reports it was reported as striking driftwood at high tide, but it’s common for fisherman here to tie nets off to driftwood so it could be a bit of both!

All in all, we’ve had some great chats with the new neighbors and learned some interesting facts about our new home. I was even told there’s a great book about the history of the area that was suggested to me, but its a little out of my price range unfortunately. Maybe I’ll be able to add it to my book shelf someday!

Tales of the Fishing Beach: Growing Up in ‘Old’ Alaska by Janette Riehle (Amazon affiliate link)