Even though Shakes Island is technically owned by the Wrangell Cooperative Association, all of Wrangell feels ownership of the island. Its location in the center of the harbor puts it in the center of maritime activities. You can see it from most places in town, from the top of Mt. Dewey and from the highway driving into town. It has been a place to hold picnics, go swimming, take our visiting friends, and even to party. But most of all, it is a daily reminder of our Tlingit heritage. Wrangell, as Wayne Price so aptly says, is “an unrecognized stronghold of Tlingit culture.” Maybe because we see this heritage every day as we drive around town – from Shakes Island to the totem park to the artwork at the bank to the petroglyphs to the faces of our family and friends, we don’t recognize this. Hopefully, this project will help us see with new eyes that our Tlingit heritage is precious and needs to be not just preserved but reawakened and renewed in the light of a new century. As always, Wrangell is proud of our island. Usually we mean this to be Wrangell Island. But we’re also proud of Shakes Island. It’s our island too.
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