Berg Bay is in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, and extends west for four miles (6.5 km) off Sitakaday Narrows near the mouth of Glacier Bay, about 38 miles (61 km) northwest of Hoonah, and 18 miles (29 km) northwest of Gustavus, Alaska. The bay name is likely from the adjacent mountain of the same name located to the north, and first published as “Berg Inlet” by the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1883. The bay is flanked by steep mountains rising to over 2,500 feet (760 m), formed by sedimentary rocks of the Tidal Formation that developed during the Silurian period, about 444 million to 419 million years ago. These rocks are mostly graywacke and mudstone turbidites, and layers or lenses of limestone and conglomerate. The valley floor is filled with unconsolidated Quaternary sediments and drained by the North and Grassy rivers. Lars Island and Netland Island are at the entrance to Berg Bay. The islands were named in 1939 for Lars Netland, who was a member of the International Boundary Commission from 1904 to 1910. Netland, born in Norway and came to the United States in 1889, aided in the reconnaissance survey of the Alaska coastline, with Berg Bay documented in 1907.

Lieutenant Joseph Whidbey, on the Vancouver Expedition in 1794, recorded seeing indigenous people who paddled out in canoes from what is now Point Carolus at the entrance to Glacier Bay. The Tlingit have traditionally occupied much of Southeast Alaska, from Yakutat in the north to Ketchikan in the south. Oral history and scientific findings corroborate that the ancestors of the Huna Tlingit occupied Glacier Bay long before the last glacier advance. This place was their home and was known as S’e Shuyee, or “edge of the glacial silt.” Beginning around 1700, the long-stationary glacier surged forward and overran their settlements. The clans survived this time of extreme hardship by dispersing throughout the Icy Strait, Excursion Inlet, and northern Chichagof Island areas, eventually settling in the village of Xunniyaa, meaning “shelter from the north wind,” today known as Hoonah. Later, as the ice retreated, they returned to their ancestral homeland, which had been transformed and scraped clean by the glacier. It was now known as Sit’ Eeti Gheeyi, or “the bay in place of the glacier.” Even as Glacier Bay lay encased in ice, indigenous people carried on their activities in many places along the nearby coast that may have been free of ice, such as Dundas Bay.

One of the few private inholdings in Glacier Bay National Park is located at the head of Berg Bay. In 2020, The Conservation Fund, National Park Foundation, Hoonah Indian Association and National Park Service announced the addition of the 150-acre (61 ha) parcel to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The property encompasses a large portion of the Grassy River, site of an ancestral Tlingit village and the place of origin of the Chookaneidí Clan. It is one of the tribe’s most revered sites and is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property. Generations of Huna Tlingit hunted, fished and gathered on the surrounding lands and waters, and tribal members retain strong ties to the area. The property will be managed in collaboration with the Hoonah Indian Association, a federally recognized tribal government through a unique conservation easement. The land will provide opportunities for tribal members to engage in traditional cultural practices and will support public access to fishing, hiking and camping opportunities thanks to funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and other sources. Read more here and here. Explore more of Berg Bay and Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve here: