The first step in the restoration project is taking down the old bell tower.
A small crowd gathered on a cool Friday morning at St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Eklutna, the oldest standing building in the Municipality of Anchorage. Bishop Alexei of Sitka and Alaska delivered a prayer in front of a large crane and several scissor lifts.
Bernier said the restoration project is still in its early stages and he’s not sure when it’ll actually finish, but the goal is to return the church to a usable form. Watching the tower come down was an emotional experience for many at the site, including Charleen Shaginaw, great granddaughter of Eklutna Alex and granddaughter of Mike Alex. Eklutna was the last Dena’ina shaman of the village while Mike was the village’s last traditional chief. Shaginaw said she sees the restoration project as a new beginning.
“The Russian Orthodox Church was in charge of inoculating its followers,” Leggett said. “And so we started to see a new religion as part of, you know, our cosmology.” “We were afraid that the spirits would get confused,” Leggett said. “So we constructed the spirit houses and, traditionally, a person’s prized possessions would be put inside the house. Things that they would need in the afterlife, like a good pair of gloves, moccasins, a good knife, some food, that kind of thing.”
Like Shaginaw, Leggett is a descendant of Eklutna Alex, a longtime caretaker of the church. He said his people aren’t as tied to the Russian Orthodox faith as they used to be.
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