Homer is one of the last Frontier places! For many people even getting here would be a feat, but living here! Thats something else!The Dena'ina Indians or Pacific Eskimos lived on the southern shores of Kachemak Bay long before the "White Man" arrived.

This is a bit of a misnomer really,but the eskimos were here first!Coal and Russians were the main reason for Homer's existence. Apparently discovered by them but harvested by American companies and shipped via a railroad to a wharf vbuilt on the spit and then carried by ship to the foundries of the world!

This industry led to a small town being established and naturally this was close to the industry. The glacial moraine soon supported the first real "town.
Homer Pennock is famous for his role (and obviosuly name). Homer had a 50-man and single woman crew who appeared early in 1896. This Gold mining company and its owner soon moved onto the Klondike but left in his wake his heritage! Unfortunately (or fortunately), the coal soon petered out in economic terms and the remaining residents turned to agriculture and fishing.

This resulted in a salmon cannery being built in Seldovia southwest of Homer across the Bay. Naturaly a church was built, a school founded in the early 1900's and soon other industries were tried: fur, herring, and no doubt others. Although adding to the opportunity and longevity, it was the Salmon industry that remained!

The spit was not a suitable place for a town, especially in the absence of coal and it withered and died. A few remnants remain but the main town was relocated to the "mainland". During the 1940s, the town grew in size but shrank in numbers (325 to 307). Even then this number was barely sufficient to maintain an infrastructure.

More emphasis was applied to fishing and the now world famous Halibut and shrimp catches from Kachemak Bay boosted the towns economy. Seldovia was the hotspot fo this growth until the 1964 earthquake destroyed that town's waterfront. Homer was the natural successor!

Homer is embalmed in natural beauty and abundant wildlife. Coal is still free (washed up on beaches in the storms) and people live a healthy and vibrabt existence. Homes will even help you relocate!!

If your aim is to vanish from the radar screen, it somehow seems peculiarly fitting to do so in the self-proclaimed "halibut capital of the world." At the end of the Sterling Highway on south-central Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, 226 miles southwest of Anchorage, Homer sits at the dead end not just of the state, but of the continent; on
occasion, you may actually encounter a moose skulking down Main Street. But what a dead end: Homer's
breathtaking coordinates--where the Kenai Mountains and sundry glaciers dribble into the sea at Kachemak Bay-- and the mild-for-Alaska coastal climate have drawn what, for a burg of 4,100, is a surprisingly vibrant and diverse populace. The ratio of artsy types to fisherfolk is roughly even; the dozens of churches represented include Baha'i, Russian Orthodox "
old believers," and just about every other denomination you can think of. A fine public radio station and the Homer News, hailed as the state's best weekly, bring the rest of the cosmos just a little closer. You can flee here to start over if the highish cost of living doesn't spook you, but you won't be the first.