Nestled between mountains along the banks of the Kenai River in Cooper Landing is the K’beq’ Cultural Interpretive Heritage Site, the Kenaitze Indian Tribe's only cultural heritage area. The site features a house pit, where a home built by the Dena’ina people once sat. Shallow cache pits, where items like fish would be stored and cooled, are also on location.
In 2019, the site closed because of the Swan Lake fire. It remained closed through the pandemic and during spruce bark beetle tree mitigation on the property. The heritage site officially reopened Friday.
“This is probably one of the only places on the Kenai Peninsula that you’re going to learn about the culture and history of the Kenaitze Indian Tribe unless you participate in any of the programs we have in Kenai,” said Michael Bernard, cultural resource supervisor with the tribe. “This is kind of the first stop for a lot of visitors that come to the Kenai, and we’re happy to be one of their first experiences.”
Bernard says the interpretative site will host cultural presentations throughout the summer. The site’s boardwalk is also lined with interpretative signs that highlight the tribe’s culture and history.
Bernadine Atchison is the council chair for the tribe. She says before sites like these opened to the public, some people were led to believe the Kenai Peninsula’s history began during the Gold Rush.
“The Dena’ina have been here for over 2,000 years, so the history goes back a lot further," Atchison said. "Being able to share how we traditionally had our house pits, and also learning that we considered this our grocery store. You can just step outside and pretty much everything you needed was outside your door.”
Atchison says the site is a prime example of the tribe’s “leave no trace” belief system. To this day, the only evidence the tribe ever resided on the property is the in-ground pits and the Darien-Lingden Cabin, a trapping cabin built in the late 1930s.
Although the Kenai River is widely known as one of the best places to salmon fish in the state, Atchison says the tribe recognized this well before it became a popular fishing spot. She says the tribe's history is Alaska’s history.
“This is our history, this is part of what Alaska is, this is part of the Kenai Peninsula," she said. "We’ve lived here a long time, we’ve been taking care of the land. Everybody who's being able to use the land today is because of how well we took care of it.”
The K’beq’ Cultural Interpretive Heritage Site is near mile marker 52 of the Sterling Highway, across from the Russian River Campground in Cooper Landing. It's open from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday through Monday during the summer.
