Point Spencer is located at the northern tip of a spit approximately 19 miles (31 km) long, situated between the Bering Sea and Port Clarence on the Seward Peninsula, about 14 miles (23 km) west of Teller, Alaska. The point was named in 1827 by Captain Frederick W. Beechey in honor of Captain Robert Spencer, a highly decorated officer of the Royal Navy at that time.

Point Spencer has been used for thousands of years by the Iñupiat and their ancestors as a major trading hub between Indigenous peoples in present-day Alaska and eastern Eurasia. Beginning in the early 1800s, Port Clarence served as a safe harbor for American whaling vessels and remains one of the few sheltered anchorages in the Bering Sea. In 1850-52, vessels searching for the lost Franklin expedition overwintered in Port Clarence. From 1865-67, the harbor supported the Western Union Telegraph Expedition, an unfinished project to link North America with Russia across the Bering Strait. Port Clarence continued to serve as a major harbor for the Revenue Cutter Service, a precursor to the U.S. Coast Guard, until the early 20th century.

In 1941, the U.S. Army constructed an airbase at Point Spencer to support military activities in the Pacific during World War II. Towards the end of the war, the Army expanded the runways for use as a bomber field. In 1955, the Army abandoned the airbase. In 1962, the U.S. Coast Guard built a Long Range Navigation facility at Point Spencer, which included a paved runway 4,500 feet (1,372 m) long and a radio tower 1,350 feet (412 m) tall. This tower was the tallest structure in Alaska until its demolition in 2010 when the program was discontinued. Read more here and here. Explore more of Point Spencer and Port Clarence here: