Chenega is a village on the western shore of Crab Bay, on the southeastern coast of Evans Island in Prince William Sound, about 84 miles (135 km) southwest of Cordova and 49 miles (79 km) east of Seward, Alaska. The village takes its name from the Chugach Sugpiaq or Chugachigmiut Chenega people; the word means “Beneath the Mountain.” Its main business area includes the village council offices, a community center, the Russian Orthodox church, a small boat harbor and the Alaska Marine Highway ferry terminal.

The Chenega people have lived in Prince William Sound for thousands of years, some accounts putting their presence at more than 10,000 years. They belong to the Alutiiq language family and speak a dialect called Suqcestun (sooks-toon). One of their oldest villages stood on the southern tip of Chenega Island. In the 1700s Russian trappers and explorers reached the village and introduced the Russian Orthodox faith. The earthquake of 27 March 1964, and the tsunami it triggered, destroyed every building in old Chenega except a single home and the village school. More than a third of the residents were killed; survivors were taken first to Cordova, then resettled in the village of Tatitlek by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In 1971 Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, granting Chenega’s original residents title to more than 70,000 acres (28,328 ha) of land in Prince William Sound (a later survey put the figure at 76,093 acres) and paving the way for the Chenega Corporation, established in 1974. In 1977 Alutiiq natives enrolled in the corporation chose Crab Bay as the site of their new village, a location selected to suit a subsistence lifestyle. One family moved to Evans Island in 1982, and roughly 26 more followed between 1984 and 1991. Read more here and here. Explore more of Chenega and Evans Island here: