Perryville is a community on the south coast of the Alaska Peninsula, about 66 miles (106 km) northeast of Sand Point and 41 miles (66 km) southwest of Chignik, Alaska. This Alutiiq native village was established for people who were driven away from the vicinity of Mount Katmai by the eruption of 1912.

The catastrophic eruption of Mount Katmai on June 6, 1912, permanently displacing communities in Katmai Bay and Kukak Bay near the volcano. The eruption happened at a vent about 6 miles (10 km) to the west of Mount Katmai (now the Novarupta Volcano). Over about 60 hours, the volcano erupted an estimated 6.7 cubic miles (28 cu km) of ash flows and tephra representing 3.1 cubic miles (13 cu km) of magma volume. The eruption produced a cloud of suffocating gas and ash that blackened the sky for the inhabitants of Katmai and Kukak Villages and the town of Kodiak. When the ash started falling most inhabitants were evacuated by boat.

One month after the eruption, the U.S. Revenue Cutter Manning returned to the Alaska Peninsula with 78 of the Katmai refugees to establish a new village. After a failed first village site selection, the natives were relocated again to a spot 200 miles (322 km) south of Mt. Katmai. The new settlement was named Perry, after K.W. Perry the captain of the Manning. The name was later changed to Perryville, probably to conform with the post office that was established there in 1930. Read more here and here. Explore more of Perryville here: