Golovin is a small community on a point of land between Golovnin Bay and Golovnin Lagoon, on the Seward Peninsula, 82 miles (132 km) northwest of Unalakleet and 52 air miles (84 km) east of Safety, Alaska. Golovin was originally an Iñupiat village called Chinik or Cheenik, but was called Golovnin by early Russian traders who named it after Vice-Admiral Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin. Vasily Golovnin who visited Alaska in 1807–1809 to inspect the workings of the Russian-American Company, and again in 1817–1819.

In about 1890, an employee of the nearby Omalik mines named John Dexter married an Iñupiat woman and established a trading post at Chinik. Dexter became the local authority for prospecting information on the Seward Peninsula. In 1893, the Mission Covenant of Sweden established a church and school in Chinik, and later a mission south of Chinik at a reindeer station on the mainland near Carolyn Island. Reindeer herding was an integral part of the missions in the area in the 1900s. The mission was abandoned in 1904 and moved to Elim after a series of severe storms.

With the discovery of gold in 1898, Chinik became a supply-relay point for the Council goldfields to the north. Supplies were unloaded from ships at Chinik and shipped across Golovnin Lagoon and up the Fish and Niukluk Rivers to Council. In 1899, the Golovin Post Office was established and John Dexter was postmaster. By this time the name “Golovin”, derived from Golovnin Bay and Lagoon, had become well established with only one “n”. Today the village of Golovin is an important checkpoint on the Iditarod Sled Dog Trail and about 65 miles (105 km) from the finish in Nome. Read more here and here. Explore more of Golovin here: