Three Saints Bay

The first Russian colony in America

1802 lithograph engraving of Three Saints Bay

Three Saints Bay is a nine mile long inlet on the southeast side of Kodiak Island, 60 miles southwest of the town of Kodiak. The location of the first Russian colony in America, it was founded in August, 1784 by Russian seafarer, merchant, and fur trader Grigorii Shelikhov, whose fur trading venture was the predecessor of the Russian-American Company, founded in 1799.

The Alutiiq people occupying the area initially resisted the intruders, and fled to a secluded island later known as Refuge Rock. The Russian promyshlennikis attacked the people on the island, slaughtering an estimated 200 to 500 men, women and children. Following the attack, Shelikhov claimed to have captured over 1,000 people, detaining some 400 as hostages, including children, while the Russians suffered no casualties.

Three Saints Bay was named for the Three Holy Hierarchs of Eastern Christianity: Basil the Great (also known as Basil of Caesarea), Gregory the Theologian (also known as Gregory of Nazianzus) and John Chrysostom. They were highly influential bishops of the early church who played pivotal roles in shaping Christian theology, venerated as saints in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, and other Christian churches.

The Three Saints Bay Site served as a base for the exploration and eventual settlement of other stations. Three Saints Bay was intended to be a permanent colonial settlement, but the site was poorly chosen, for the hillside above the shore was too steep to build on, and the shore area was too small for a substantial settlement. In 1791 Alexander Baranov began moving the main Russian settlement to the site of present-day Kodiak.

In 1978 the site was declared a National Historic Landmark and archaeological site. Only a few remnants of the Russian occupation remain, mainly pits and rectangular depressions where structures were located, and some plants that are evidence of the small-scale agriculture which was practiced there. Excavation at the site yielded evidence that it was built on the site of an older native settlement, dating to c. 100 BCE.

Three Saints Bay, by Cossick John, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [Wikimedia Commons]

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