Sights in Valdez
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
Trans-Alaska Pipeline Terminal
Across the inlet from town, Valdez' ever-pumping heart once welcomed visitors, but since September 11, 2001, stricter security protocols have closed it to the public. From the end of Dayville Rd you can still get a peek at the facility, including the storage tanks holding nine million barrels of oil apiece. But heed the dire warnings: plenty of septuagenarian RVers have been pulled over and interrogated for getting too close.
Those truly interested in the terminal can learn more about it at Prince William Sound Community College, which for a fee offers a pipeline exhibit and thrice-daily 'video tour', featuring great photography and a narrative that amounts to little mor…
reviewed
-
Earthquake Memorial
Valdez has been unduly blessed by nature, but 17:46, March 27, 1964, was payback time. Some 45 miles west of town and 14 miles underground, a fault ruptured, triggering a magnitude-9.2 earthquake - the most powerful in American history. The land rippled like water as Valdez slid into the harbor; tsunamis destroyed what was left. Thirty-seven people died.
After the quake, survivors labored to relocate and rebuild Valdez at its present site. But if you drive out the Richardson Hwy you can still see the ghostly and overgrown foundations of Old Valdez. The Earthquake Memorial, listing the names of the dead, is reached by turning off the highway onto the unsigned gravel road j…
reviewed
-
A
Remembering Old Valdez Annex
Operated by the Valdez Museum, the Remembering Old Valdez Annex is dominated by a scale model of the Old Valdez township. Each home destroyed in the Good Friday Earthquake has been painstakingly restored in miniature, with the family's name in front. Other exhibits on the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis and fires are moving, but none are as heart-wrenching as the recordings of ham-radio operators communicating across the Sound as the quake wore on.
This is a fitting memorial to the lives and countless memories lost on Valdez' darkest day.
reviewed
-
B
Small-Boat Harbor
Valdez' harbor is a classic: raucous with gulls and eagles, reeking of fish guts and sea salt and creosote, and home to all manner of vessels - even a Chinese junk. The benches and long boardwalk are ideal for watching lucky anglers weighing in 100lb or 200lb halibut, and for taking in the fairytale mountainscape in the background. Nearby is the civic center, which has more picnic tables and panoramic vistas.
reviewed
-
C
Valdez Museum
The Valdez Museum is packed with displays, including the first barrel of oil to flow from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and photos of Valdez being shaken by the 1964 Good Friday earthquake.
reviewed
-
Maxine & Jesse Whitney Museum
The Maxine & Jesse Whitney Museum is devoted to Alaska Native culture and Alaskan wildlife, and features ivory and baleen artwork and natural-history displays.
reviewed
