About this place
Where Taku Inlet Meets History
Taku Harbor sits at the mouth of Taku Inlet, roughly 25 miles southeast of Juneau on the mainland coast of southeast Alaska. Accessible only by water or floatplane, it is one of the more historically layered anchorages in the region — used continuously by Tlingit people for centuries, briefly occupied by the Hudson’s Bay Company in the 1840s, visited by Presbyterian missionaries in the late nineteenth century, and home to a salmon cannery that operated into the twentieth century.
Today it is managed by Alaska State Parks as a state marine park, offering protected anchorage, a float, and trails through second-growth forest that obscure the remains of all that came before.
Four eras
Layers of Occupation
Precontact – present
Tlingit Settlement
A Taku Kwáan village site at the harbor mouth, used seasonally and year-round across many generations.
1840 – 1843
Fort Durham
The Hudson’s Bay Company’s short-lived trading post, built to compete with Russian America and counter Tlingit middleman trade.
1880s – 1900s
Presbyterian Mission
Missionary activity reaching into Taku Inlet as part of Sheldon Jackson’s broader effort to establish schools and churches across Alaska.
1890s – mid-20th c.
Salmon Cannery
A commercial cannery processing pink and sockeye salmon from Taku Inlet, part of southeast Alaska’s cannery boom era.
The place today
Visiting Taku Harbor
The harbor is reachable by small boat from Juneau in calm conditions, though Taku Inlet is known for strong outflow winds — the Taku wind — that can make passage hazardous. The Alaska State Parks float provides moorage, and a trail system runs through the former cannery grounds.
Marine park information: Taku Harbor State Marine Park is managed by the Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation. No facilities beyond the float and trails. Bears are active in the area. The anchorage is exposed to southeast winds; the inner cove offers better protection.
The forest has largely reclaimed the cannery site, but pilings, machinery fragments, and building foundations remain visible. The location of Fort Durham is less certain on the ground, though historical documents and the 1890 census map of the region help anchor its approximate position.