Bartlett Cove is an estuary of the Bartlett River that extends northeast for 2 miles (3.2 km) from the eastern shore of Glacier Bay in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, about 155 miles (250 km) southeast of Yakutat and 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Gustavus, Alaska. The cove is home to a small resort community that also serves as the administrative headquarters for the park. It is formed by the southern shore of Lester Island to the north and west, and the mainland to the south and east. Lester Island was named by the US Coast and Geodetic Survey for Rear Admiral Lester A. Beardslee, who commanded the USS Jamestown during the US Navy’s administration of the Department of Alaska. He surveyed this part of the coast from 1879 to 1880. In the early 1880s, steamship cruises to Alaska became popular among tourists and gold miners. The Idaho, operated by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, sailed from Port Townsend to Juneau, Sitka, and Wrangell, stopping in Glacier Bay. Bartlett Cove was reportedly named by the captain of the Idaho—either James Carroll or W.E George—probably for Charles C. Bartlett, a wealthy businessman from Port Townsend who purchased property on the bay in 1884. The southern shore of Bartlett Cove is a glacier outwash plain that once supported a Tlingit village and early Euro-American settlers. Such plains form when glacial meltwater carries and deposits sediments eroded from underlying bedrock. Larger boulders settle near the glacier’s terminus, while finer particles are transported farther. Outwash plains may also feature braided stream complexes and kettle lakes, which form when buried ice blocks melt and leave depressions filled with water.

Bartlett Cove is rich in Tlingit place names and oral history. It lies within Wooshkeetaan clan territory, and Huna Tlingit traditions recall a large village before the Little Ice Age called L’awshaa Shakee Aan, or “town on top of the sand dunes,” with houses built atop a glacial moraine. After Glacier Bay’s ice retreated in the early 1800s, a second village, Gatheeni, was established at Bartlett Cove. In 1883, the first salmon saltery was located on Lester Island, likely staffed by residents of Gatheeni. The Bartlett Bay Packing Company opened a cannery in 1888, producing 4,300 cases of sockeye salmon in 1889, with 48 one-pound cans per case. In 1890, William, Brown & Company of San Francisco built a second cannery, yielding 12,000 cases in its first year and 7,600 in 1891 before iceberg congestion forced its closure. The Alaska Packing Association acquired the site in 1892, becoming the Alaska Packers Association in 1893. In 1894, it dismantled the canning equipment and shipped it to another facility near Haines. The cannery buildings later burned and were sold to Peter Buschmann of Petersburg, who established a saltery in 1896 or 1897. A major earthquake in 1899 triggered extensive calving from tidewater glaciers, clogging Icy Strait and Glacier Bay with icebergs. The vessel White Wing, which served the Bartlett Cove saltery, was blocked for two weeks, while tourist steamers were unable to enter the bay for years. Despite this, salting operations continued in 1900, with the facility producing 530 barrels of sockeye and 120 of coho salmon, about 60 fish per barrel. In the winter of 1900–01, the Pacific Packing and Navigation Company bought the saltery but soon idled the site and went bankrupt in 1903. The Northwestern Fisheries Company of Seattle later acquired the property, which was eventually abandoned as the buildings collapsed.

Glacier Bay National Monument was established in 1925, but no personnel were assigned until 1949, when a seasonal ranger was stationed at Bartlett Cove. By 1953, the monument was managed from Bartlett Cove and an administrative office near Juneau. Starting in 1957, Bartlett Cove facilities were expanded with employee housing and maintenance buildings as part of the Mission 66 program, which marked the 50th anniversary of the National Park Service. The Glacier Bay Lodge opened in 1966, and by 1969, cruise ships had become regular seasonal visitors. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 set aside 80 million acres (32 million ha) of public land for potential inclusion in the national park system. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter used the Antiquities Act to proclaim 15 new National Park units in Alaska. Two years later, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act formally established Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, encompassing 3.2 million acres (1.3 million ha), including the original monument. The main distinction between national park and preserve lands is that sport hunting, regulated under Alaskan game laws, is permitted in preserves but prohibited in parks. In 1992, Glacier Bay was added to a transborder UNESCO World Heritage Site covering 25 million acres (10 million ha), including Kluane National Park, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and the Tatshenshini-Alsek National Park—creating one of the world’s largest international protected areas. Glacier Bay hosts about 560,000 visitors annually, most arriving aboard cruise ships that bypass Bartlett Cove and never land in the park. The front-country, encompassing 7,120 acres (2,881 ha) around Bartlett Cove, is the only developed area with visitor services. It is accessible via a public dock or a paved road from Gustavus, which also has an airport with regular small-plane and seasonal jet service. Year-round ferry access is available via the Alaska Marine Highway dock. Read more here and here. Explore more of Bartlett Cove and Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve here: