Nikolaevsk

History

The town was settled by a group of Old Believers from Oregon around 1968, and remains a largely ethnic Russian town. The travels of the group from Russia, as well as the story of the founding of Nikolaevsk, is told in a 1972 article in National Geographic, a 2013 episode on the NatGeo channel called Russian Alaska, and a 2013 article in The Atlantic magazine. The town was founded by the five families of Russian Orthodox Old Believers from Siberia that left Russia after the Russian Revolution, and lived near Harbin, China, and São Paulo, Brazil, before going to the United States. Initially living in Woodburn, Oregon, the community later left for Alaska to find a more isolated location. Nikolaevsk was built from 1968 to 1970. The first church was built in 1983. The second church was constructed in 2014. In May 2023, it became known that the Old Believers community of Nikolaevsk, Alaska, consisting of Fr. Nikola Yakunin, his son Deacon Vasily Yakunin, and about 20 families decided to join the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (semi-autonomous part of Moscow Patriarchate) on the rights of the edinoverie. It was reported that the community was largely Americanized and was having problems praying in the already almost forgotten Church Slavonic language.

Geography

Nikolaevsk is on the west side of the Kenai Peninsula at (59.813043, -151.668387). It is bordered to the south and west by the Anchor Point CDP and to the north by the Happy Valley CDP. Road access is via the North Fork Road, which junctions with the Sterling Highway to the west in Anchor Point. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all of it recorded as land. The North Fork of the Anchor River forms the southern border of the community, and the Chakok River forms the western border. Nikolaevsk is in the boreal wet forest biome, according to the Holdridge life zones system.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Bald Eagle

  Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,738
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  1,180
• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  1,091
• Red-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta canadensis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,017
• Glaucous-winged Gull

  Larus glaucescens J.F.Naumann, 1840 · Aves
  970
• Short-billed Gull

  Larus brachyrhynchus Richardson, 1831 · Aves
  957
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  904
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  859

Largest nearby schools

• Chapman School
  Elementary · Anchor Point · 160 students · 11.4:1 ratio
• Nikolaevsk School
  Other · Nikolaevsk · 30 students · 30:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.6 — 2026-10-01
  46 km W of Happy Valley, Alaska
• M 3.4 — 2026-10-01
  23 km NW of Nanwalek, Alaska
• M 3 — 2026-10-01
  38 km WNW of Anchor Point, Alaska
• M 2.7 — 2026-09-28
  13 km NNW of Ninilchik, Alaska
• M 3.6 — 2026-09-28
  42 km WSW of Anchor Point, Alaska
• M 2.8 — 2026-09-28
  45 km W of Salamatof, Alaska