The A.R. Davey General Merchandise building is a historic structure located in downtown Naknek, Alaska. The building was built by Albert R. Davey in the 1930’s as an addition to an existing residence built by John Stenvall. The building has served our village over the last century as a residence, mercantile, meat store, post office, fur trading post, liquor store, and jail. Many of these building uses were in overlapping timeframes which is representative of the multifunctional needs of the small permanent year-round village of Naknek that was rapidly forming around the nearby Naknek Packing Company cannery. A notable feature on the facade of the building is an old west style false front that was intended to provide the familiar comfort of a robust permanent structure in the emerging boom time of the early salmon industry.
The Stenvall home is very likely one of the earliest structures to join the existing infrastructure of the indigenous native village that surrounds the Russian Orthodox Church nearby the cannery. The remodel of this early settler home into a multifunctional commercial building is representative of the rise of the multicultural community of Naknek that continues to thrive as a robust hub for the salmon fishing industry of Bristol Bay today. Today this building serves the community as the home of the Bristol Bay Historical Society Museum and boasts a growing collection that prioritizes preservation of local maritime heritage and indigenous cultural lifeways. Our museum, located in the historic A.R. Davey General Merchandise building, encourages cultural exchange by fostering collaborations with elders, youth, artists, scholars, and tradesfolk to develop exhibits and educational programs that demonstrate the diversity of our community, traditions, resources, and industries.
The Bristol Bay Historical Society is dedicated to preserving and sharing the history, culture, and values of Bristol Bay.
Summer Hours
12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Wednesday - Saturday
☎ 907.246.6873 (MUSE)
📍 110 Alaska Peninsula Highway
PO Box 250
Naknek, Alaska 99633
Save Our Sailboats
Our historic collection of wooden fishing boats demonstrate the evolution from the days of sail that began in the 1880’s to the first powerboats legalized to fish in Bristol Bay. Motorized vessels were banned from fishing in our waters in 1922. This prohibitive legislation continued well beyond a reasonable expiration date due the monopolistic powers of the salmon packing companies—thus making the obsolescent sailboat an icon of Bristol Bay. A watershed of events including the unionization of fisherman, labor shortages caused by WWII, and a devastating number of fisherman deaths in a 1948 storm combined into a final break in the lobbying power of the canners and powerboats were finally legalized in 1951.
The Bristol Bay Historical Society was able to secure a protected storage facility to house our historic wooden boat collection in 2022. Our intent is to utilize this space to temporarily protect the priority boats in our collection until the construction of a boat house facility is completed on our museum campus. Please consider making a donation to our SOS Campaign so we can continue to save our sailboats!