History & culture in Hoonah

Hoonah in brief

1. Hoonah's Tlingit name, written Xu.naa in the city's history, means 'where the north wind doesn't blow.' (cityofhoonah.org · checked Oct 5, 2026)
2. The Huna Tlingit originally lived in what is now Glacier Bay until advancing glaciers forced them from their village more than two centuries ago. (cityofhoonah.org · checked Oct 5, 2026)
3. The Xunaa Tlingit's four matrilineal clans, the T'akdeintaan, Kaagwaantaan, Wooshkeetaan and Chookaneidí, trace their ancestral homeland to Glacier Bay. (hoonahindianassociation.org · checked Oct 5, 2026)
4. Hoonah's tribal government, the Hoonah Indian Association, received its charter in 1939 and is a federally recognized tribe. (cityofhoonah.org · checked Oct 5, 2026)
5. Hoonah's first store, run by the Northwest Trading Company, opened in 1880, and Presbyterians added a home mission and school the next year, in 1881. (cityofhoonah.org · checked Oct 5, 2026)
6. The Hoonah Packing Co. opened a big cannery north of town in 1912; it closed in 1953, and the site is now the Icy Strait Point visitor destination. (cityofhoonah.org · checked Oct 5, 2026)
7. A fire in 1944 burned much of Hoonah, and homes holding irreplaceable Tlingit cultural treasures were lost. The federal government helped rebuild by sending World War II housing bound for Hawaii, and Hoonah became a first-class city in 1946. (cityofhoonah.org · checked Oct 5, 2026)
8. Huna Totem Corporation bought the old cannery in 1996 and welcomed the first cruise ship in 2004; Icy Strait Point is owned and operated entirely by Alaska Natives. (icystraitpoint.com · checked Oct 5, 2026)