Perryville is an Alutiiq Sugpiaq community on the south coast of the Alaska Peninsula, between Three Star Point to the west and Coal Cape to the east, about 66 miles (106 km) north-east of Sand Point and 41 miles (66 km) south-west of Chignik, Alaska. The settlement was established for people driven from villages on the Katmai coast by the eruption of Novarupta in 1912. It was originally named Perry, after Captain Kirtland W. Perry of the US Revenue Cutter Manning. Perryville sits behind beach dunes on the alluvial fan of the Kametolook River, which starts from an icefield at an elevation of about 6,000 feet (1,829 m) on the southern flank of Mount Veniaminof and flows south-south-east for 16 miles (26 km), draining a watershed of 115,432 acres (46,714 ha). The Alaska Peninsula comprises late Paleozoic to Quaternary sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks that record the history of several magmatic arcs. The headlands on each side of Perryville represent Meshik Volcanics, rocks that formed in a magmatic arc between the late Eocene and early Oligocene, from 42 million to 25 million years ago. Multiple active volcanoes and volcanic peaks dominate the peninsula and represent the continuation of magmatic activity that forms the present-day Aleutian arc. The alluvial fan of the Kametolook river consists of rock fragments ranging from coarse to fine sand and silt, and locally includes considerable pumice and volcanic ash. The aeolian dunes are 33 to 66 feet (10-20 m) high and composed largely of sand and pumice.

Archaeological excavations have recovered tools indicating that humans have inhabited the Alaska Peninsula for at least 9,000 years. Since about 5,000 years ago, artifacts such as notched net sinkers indicate heavy reliance on fishing. The earliest recorded visit by western explorers to the Pacific coast of the Alaska Peninsula occurred in 1741 with Vitus Bering’s expedition. Subsequent expeditions brought an influx of Russian fur traders who succeeded in gaining control over indigenous inhabitants. At the time of Russian contact there were two distinct cultural groups on the peninsula: Unangan speakers from the west and south-west, and Yup’ik speakers, ancestors of the Alutiiq Sugpiaq people from the central and eastern Alaska Peninsula. The Alutiiq people were maritime hunters; the sea, inland streams and tundra provided them with food, oil and raw materials to make clothing, shelters and boats. They were skilled hunters, adept at using seal-skin kayaks (bidarkas) and larger open boats called umiaks or baidars. Russian exploitation of sea otters and the Alutiiq people continued until the Alaska Purchase of 1867, when America assumed control. American interests focused on whaling, the maritime fur trade, mining and the development of commercial fishing.

The catastrophic eruption of Mount Katmai on June 6th 1912 permanently displaced several communities on the Alaska Peninsula. The eruption occurred at a vent about six miles (10 km) west of Mount Katmai, now called Novarupta. 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. The eruption produced a cloud of suffocating gas and ash that blackened the sky and forced the evacuation of villages at Katmai Bay, Kukak Bay, and Kaguyak (also known as Douglas) in present-day Katmai National Park and Preserve. No one died in the eruption because all residents were working at a commercial saltery in Kaflia Bay at the time. When the ash started falling most inhabitants were evacuated by boat, but the eruption rendered the area uninhabitable. One month after the eruption the US Revenue Cutter Manning returned to the Alaska Peninsula with 78 Katmai refugees to establish a new village. After a failed first site selection the natives were relocated to a location 200 miles (322 km) south of Mount Katmai. The new village was named Perry after Captain Perry, who had relocated them. The community has maintained a steady population and strong ties to Alutiiq culture and a subsistence way of life. Perryville residents have close connections with residents of Chignik Lake and lvanof Bay and, to a lesser extent, Chignik Bay. Read more here and here. Explore more of Perryville and the Alaska Peninsula here: