Barabara Point is on the Kenai Peninsula, between McDonald Spit to the east and Seldovia Point to the west, in Kachemak Bay, about 12 miles (19 km) south-southwest of Homer and 4 miles (6.5 km) northeast of Seldovia, Alaska. The mouth of Barabara Creek is at the point and creates a broad fluvial fan in the intertidal zone. The local name derives from the historical Alutiiq semi-subterranean dwellings known as “barabaras” in Russian and “ciqlluaqs” in Alutiiq. It was first reported in 1918 by Professor Adam C. Gill, a mineralogist from Cornell University, who conducted a special investigation of the chromite deposits of Red Mountain and Chrome Bay in the lower Cook Inlet. The Cook Inlet basin is part of a northeast-trending collisional forearc basin that extends approximately from Shelikof Strait in the southwest to the Wrangell Mountains in the northeast. The basin is bounded on the west and north by the granitic batholiths of the Alaska Range and the volcanoes of the Aleutian volcanic arc. On the east and south, the Chugach and Kenai Mountains, respectively, represent the emergent portion of a vast accretionary prism called the Chugach terrane. The Border Ranges Fault is roughly aligned with the axis of Kachemak Bay, juxtaposing the Mesozoic sedimentary rocks of the Peninsular terrane to the northwest against the highly deformed and metamorphosed Mesozoic rocks of the Chugach terrane to the southeast. Quaternary glacial deposits blanket the Paleogene rock strata throughout most of the Kenai lowland, with bedrock exposures limited to coastal bluffs and isolated river cuts. Oligocene to Pliocene age bedrock consists of either the Tyonek, Beluga, or Sterling formations. Most of the Tyonek Formation is exposed in the northwestern part of Cook Inlet near the village of Tyonek. However, a few coastal locations are exposed on the Kenai Peninsula between Barabara Point and Coal Cove at Port Graham. At Barabara Point, the Paleogene rocks of the Tyonek Formation are composed mostly of conglomerate derived from braided fluvial gravel deposits that filled ancient paleo valleys cut into the Mesozoic graywacke of the McHugh Complex in the Chugach terrane.

The European occupation of the Cook Inlet basin began in the late 18th century when Russian fur traders and missionaries established settlements known as artels. The Indigenous Dena’ina people were subjugated only after considerable fighting, which continued over many years. In 1818, the Dena’ina population was approximately 1,500 individuals. By the following year, the Russian-America Company controlled four permanent villages. By the early 20th century, there was a noticeable increase in the Euro-American population and a decrease in the native population, along with the disintegration of Dena’ina culture. The principal Dena’ina villages were Seldovia, Kenai, and Eklutna on the eastern shore of Cook Inlet, and Tyonek on the western shore. The Dena’ina living along the lower inlet, particularly in Kachemak Bay, had access to a greater variety and abundance of food than those in villages farther north. The Dena’ina of Kachemak Bay adopted many maritime traditions from the Alutiiq of the outer coast and became skilled sea hunters. They hunted marine mammals such as sea lions, seals, porpoises, sea otters, beluga, and other whales. Seafood caught from the lower inlet includes salmon, herring, halibut, eulachon, sculpins, octopus, clams, mussels, crabs, and cod. This was facilitated by the Alutiiq baidarka, or kayak, built with a wood frame covered by up to ten seal skins sewn together, with the seams waterproofed with grease. A single-bladed paddle was preferred over the double-bladed style. Larger boats, called umiaks, were also used. These were made with sea lion skins and propelled by teams of men using paddles. Although Dena’ina villages are well-documented, many families lived seasonally at more isolated sites scattered along the coast, typically near the mouths of salmon streams such as Barabara Point. Barabara Creek drains a watershed of 13,838 acres (5,600 ha) and flows generally northwest for about 7 miles (11 km) to Kachemak Bay at Barabara Point. The stream receives a run of about 4,900 pink salmon that spawn in late August. Historically, one or more Dena’ina families had permanent or seasonal dwellings there.

A barabara is the Russian term for the traditional dwelling used historically by Alutiiq and Aleut people and adopted by the Dena’ina that they called ‘ciqlluaq’. The semi-permanent structures were partially underground to withstand high wind forces. The floor was several feet below the surface of the ground and the houses were long enough to accommodate one or more families. After digging a foundation, builders erected a post and beam frame covered with planks hewn from driftwood. Logs were split with stone mauls and whalebone wedges and formed into planks with stone adzes. Blocks of sod or grasses were then piled over the frame for insulation. Each house had a set of rooms connected by narrow tunnels to side rooms. Houses were entered through a low passageway that led into a large room with a central hearth. Early versions had a roof doorway for entry and later designs used a vertical doorway. Fires were built in the middle and smoke holes were spaced at intervals along the ceiling and covered with a hatch that could be opened to release smoke or let in fresh air and light. Around the walls were earthen benches or platforms for sitting and sleeping, covered with dry grass or hides. Here, people cooked, repaired tools, sewed clothing, and hosted visitors. Stores of food hung from the ceiling in seal stomach containers. Beneath the platforms were sleeping compartments for the younger married people and others for unmarried girls, while the older people had small rooms extending from the sides for sleeping quarters. A steam bath, known by the Russian term “banya,” was attached to the central room. Rocks heated in the hearth were carried to the banya with wooden tongs and splashed with cold water to create steam. The banya was always the smallest room in the house, with a low roof designed to trap heat. Hot rocks were traditionally piled in the corner so bathers could exit easily. The outside of the barabara had a drainage ditch surrounding the entire structure. Residents stored larger gear, including kayak frames, paddles, and fishing nets, on the roof. Racks for drying fish and meat were commonly constructed beside the houses. Read more here and here. Explore more of Barabara Point and Kachemak Bay here: