Story of Atmautluak and Atqasuk

Atmautluak is situated in a sea of lakes on slivers of land among the vast tundra of Alaska. The entire community is built on stilts and wooden walkways are the way to get around town. It's a relatively young village being founded in the 1960s, but still has a rich cultural flavor with the Atmautluak dancers and two churches. I enjoyed the story of Saint Herman, a Russian Orthodox monk and missionary to the Aleut peoples whose sacrificial love for the people is worth remembering as he bears his name of the church in Atmautluak. Atqasuk is also a youthful community being originally settled during WWII because valuable coal was found there. The village was abandoned in the 1960s and re-settled in 1977 changing it's name from "Meade River" to the Inupiat name "Atqasuk" which means "The place to dig the rock that burns." Contact the show at [email protected] TYSA Logo was created by Evan Van Kirk Music was created by Isaac Bedingfield