Woody Island State Recreation Site

Overview

The north end of Woody Island is a 112-acre State Recreation Site. The remainder of the 13-mile circumference island is privately owned. Woody Island was home for centuries to the Alutiiq people, who fished and hunted there before the Russians established their own agricultural colony. Life resurged in the late 1800s with a Baptist Orphanage and a small town on the island. Woody Island has also has served as a staging ground for military communications during World War II, and during this time more changes were brought to Tangirnaq. A communications station was built in 1941, along with houses for the many families who joined the men employed there. Beginning in 1942, a great number of the island's trees were cut down by the Army to support the war effort in the Aleutians. Finally, in the 1960's, the public school was closed and children began to attend school at Kodiak. For a while, people remained on Tangirnaq, preferring to travel to and from Kodiak for school and work. However, when ferry service was discontinued in the 1960's, most residents moved to Kodiak permanently. While no one lives there now, a number of people still hunt and fish the lands and water of Tangirnaq. They, along with others, will always consider Woody Island to be their home. Now, all that's left is a small Christian summer camp run by the American Baptists. Woody Island is located in Chiniak Bay, 2.6-miles east of Kodiak.

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