# Kachemak place names and their origins

Optional local-history enrichment. Learn a few strong stories, not another compulsory syllabus. Dates often indicate when a name was recorded, not when it was first used. Indigenous places and names long predate their appearance on European charts.

## Learn these first

- **Mutnaia Gulch:** Mutnaia = muddy.
- **Archimandritof Shoals:** A Russian captain, honored by Dall.
- **McKeon Flats & McKeon Rock:** McKeon = hunting guide William.
- **Cohen Island:** Cohen = local trader.
- **Yukon Island:** Yukon = survey schooner.
- **Hesketh Island:** Hesketh arrived on a Witch.
- **Eldred Passage:** Eldred and Sadie: one woman, two names.
- **Seldovia Bay & Watch Point:** Herring bay; Lookout becomes Watch.
- **Passage Island & nearby waterfall:** The passage that wasn't.
- **Nanwalek, English Bay & River:** Lagoon place; old bay name moved.

## Clockwise route: Anchor Point to Flat Island

### 1. Anchor Point

Commemorates an anchor lost during Cook's 1778 exploration. USGS cautions that Cook appears originally to have applied the name to a point farther north; avoid claiming the anchor was lost exactly at today's point.

**Memory cue:** Cook lost an anchor; the name moved.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 75](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=83)

### 2. Mutnaia Gulch

From Russian Mutnaya, meaning muddy. USGS attributes the name to naturalist I. G. Wosnesenski about 1840.

**Memory cue:** Mutnaia = muddy.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 667](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=675)

### 3. Bluff Point

Named by W. H. Dall of the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1880. The descriptive name fits the conspicuous bluff; USGS records no separate naming anecdote.

**Memory cue:** Dall, 1880; the bluff.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 147](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=155)

### 4. Diamond Ridge

USGS records it as a local name published in the 1950s, without explaining the word Diamond. A diamond-mining or diamond-discovery story is not established by this record.

**Memory cue:** Local name; origin unresolved.  
**Evidence:** Origin unresolved. [USGS, p. 271](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=279)

### 5. Archimandritof Shoals

Dall named the shoals in 1880 for Captain Archimandritov of the Russian-American Company.

**Memory cue:** A Russian captain, honored by Dall.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 85](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=93)

### 6. Homer & Homer Spit

Homer commemorates Homer Pennock, the gold-mining promoter associated with the settlement in the 1890s. USGS records the spit name as applied by R. W. Stone in 1904 for the town formerly situated there.

**Memory cue:** Pennock → Homer → Homer Spit.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 427](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=435) · [City of Homer history](https://www.cityofhomer-ak.gov/communitydevelopment/snapshot-homer)

### 7. Coal Point & Coal Bay

English translations adopted by the Coast Survey in 1881 from Russian names on Tebenkov's 1852 chart: Mys Ugolnoy, coal cape, and Zaliv Ugolnoy, coal bay.

**Memory cue:** Russian coal names, translated.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 227](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=235) · [USGS, p. 226](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=234)

### 8. Kachemak City

The city shares the bay's name. For the word Kachemak, see the regional note below: historical explanations differ. No separate city-naming anecdote was verified.

**Memory cue:** Use the bay-name note.  
**Evidence:** Qualified. [USGS, p. 482](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=490)

### 9. Mud Flats

A descriptive label for the tidal flats in your study sequence. No personal namesake or distinct historical naming event was verified.

**Memory cue:** Descriptive, not a hidden namesake.  
**Evidence:** Descriptive label. 

### 10. Martin River

USGS records the Kachemak Bay river as a local name published in the 1950s. That entry does not identify a Martin. Do not assume it honors geologist G. C. Martin merely because he worked in the region.

**Memory cue:** Martin's identity unverified.  
**Evidence:** Origin unresolved. [USGS, p. 626](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=634)

### 11. Chugachik Island

An Indigenous name recorded by Tebenkov in 1848 as Ostrov Chugachik; ostrov is Russian for island. The consulted entry does not supply a reliable literal translation of Chugachik.

**Memory cue:** Older Indigenous name on a Russian chart.  
**Evidence:** Meaning unresolved. [USGS, p. 217](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=225)

### 12. Bear Cove & Bear Island

Bear Cove was recorded on a 1912 USGS field sheet by D. F. Higgins and R. H. Sargent. Bear Island was named for the cove and published in 1951. No particular bear encounter is documented in these entries.

**Memory cue:** Cove first; island inherits its name.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 113](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=121) · [USGS, p. 115](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=123)

### 13. Aurora Lagoon

USGS says the lagoon was probably named for the former village of Aurora nearby; the lagoon name appeared in 1951. Keep the word probably.

**Memory cue:** Probably the old village, not a proven aurora sighting.  
**Evidence:** Probable. [USGS, p. 95](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=103)

### 14. Glacier Spit

Named by Dall in 1880. The consulted entry identifies the surveyor and date, without a separate naming story.

**Memory cue:** Another Dall name, 1880.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 370](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=378)

### 15. Halibut Cove & Lagoon

Dall named Halibut Cove in 1880. The lagoon inherited the cove's name, published by USGS in 1961. The entry does not document a particular catch or fisherman.

**Memory cue:** Dall's cove; lagoon follows.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 401](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=409)

### 16. Ismailof Island

Dall named it in 1880 for Gerasim Grigorovich Izmailov, a Russian navigator and explorer of Alaska in the late eighteenth century. Ismailof is the chart spelling; Izmailov is another transliteration of the person's name.

**Memory cue:** Russian navigator remembered by Dall.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 463](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=471)

### 17. Peterson Point & Peterson Bay

USGS records the bay as a local name from the 1940s and the point as published since 1950. These entries do not identify the Peterson involved.

**Memory cue:** Local names; Peterson not identified.  
**Evidence:** Origin unresolved. [USGS, p. 751](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=759) · [USGS, p. 752](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=760)

### 18. China Poot Bay

USGS records the bay's local name in 1911. Alaska State Parks links the nearby China Poot Lake and Poot Peak names to Henry “China” Poot, an Alaska Native hunter, fisherman and trapper. The bay is also linked to him in local historian Janet Klein's account, reported by Homer News. The suggested explanation for the nickname—association with Chinese workers—remains qualified.

**Memory cue:** Henry Poot; keep the nickname story qualified.  
**Evidence:** Local historical attribution. [USGS, p. 211](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=219) · [Alaska State Parks, p. 27](https://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/plans/kbay/2022/kbay-2022-complete-text.pdf#page=41) · [Homer News citing Janet Klein](https://www.homernews.com/2021/11/10/homers-best-bets-214/)

### 19. McKeon Flats & McKeon Rock

Named for hunting guide William McKeon, according to the Alaska State Parks management plan. The same source includes McKeon Spit.

**Memory cue:** McKeon = hunting guide William.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [Alaska State Parks, p. 27](https://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/plans/kbay/2022/kbay-2022-complete-text.pdf#page=41)

### 20. Neptune Bay

USGS records a local name from the 1940s but gives no naming event or namesake. Neptune is the Roman sea god, but that alone does not establish why this particular bay was named.

**Memory cue:** Sea-god association is a cue, not proven origin.  
**Evidence:** Origin unresolved. [USGS, p. 682](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=690)

### 21. Anisom Point

USGS says it probably commemorates Anisim, an Indigenous resident who had a cabin in the area, as reported by archaeologist Frederica de Laguna. The official point spelling is Anisom.

**Memory cue:** Anisim's cabin → Anisom, probably.  
**Evidence:** Probable. [USGS, p. 79](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=87)

### 22. Sixty Foot Rock

Recorded as a local name in the 1940s, under Sixty-foot Rock. Treat the number as part of the rock's name; the history entry does not establish a Light List focal height.

**Memory cue:** Rock name ≠ light height.  
**Evidence:** Naming record. [USGS, p. 883](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=891)

### 23. Cohen Island

Dall named the Kachemak Bay island for a trader operating in the area in 1880. USGS does not give the trader's first name here. Do not substitute the history of the different Cohen Island near Juneau.

**Memory cue:** Cohen = local trader.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 229](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=237)

### 24. Yukon Island

Dall named it in 1880 for the Coast and Geodetic Survey schooner Yukon. The immediate namesake was the survey vessel.

**Memory cue:** Yukon = survey schooner.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 1069](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=1077)

### 25. Hesketh Island

Dall named it in 1880 for Sir Thomas Hesketh, who visited Cook Inlet that year aboard his yacht Lancashire Witch.

**Memory cue:** Hesketh arrived on a Witch.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 418](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=426)

### 26. Eldred Passage

Named by Dall in 1880 for Sarah Eldred, wife of surveyor and geographer Marcus Baker. She is also the Sadie of Sadie Cove.

**Memory cue:** Eldred and Sadie: one woman, two names.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 308](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=316) · [USGS, p. 824](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=832)

### 27. Sadie Cove

Dall named it in 1880 for Sarah “Sadie” Eldred, wife of Marcus Baker—the same woman honored by Eldred Passage.

**Memory cue:** Sadie = Sarah Eldred Baker.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 824](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=832)

### 28. Tutka Bay

I did not verify a literal translation in the primary sources consulted. A secondary account gives “big enclosed water,” but that should remain unlearned as fact until supported by a language or place-name authority.

**Memory cue:** Meaning awaiting confirmation.  
**Evidence:** Origin unresolved. [Secondary account, unconfirmed translation](https://coastview.org/2026/05/07/tutka-bay-falls-kachemak-bay/)

### 29. Kasitsna Bay

An Indigenous name, recorded by Dall in 1883 as Kahsitsnah and later by G. C. Martin. USGS describes it historically as a Kenai Indian name but supplies no translation.

**Memory cue:** Kahsitsnah → Kasitsna; translation unverified.  
**Evidence:** Meaning unresolved. [USGS, p. 499](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=507)

### 30. Nubble Point

Named by Dall in 1880. Nubble is a useful descriptive cue for a small knob or knoll, but the consulted naming entry does not give a specific incident.

**Memory cue:** Nubble → knoll; Dall, 1880.  
**Evidence:** Naming record. [USGS, p. 706](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=714)

### 31. Barabara Point

The local name was reported in 1918. USGS explains barabara as a Russian term for a large Native hut—a dwelling, not a person named Barbara.

**Memory cue:** Barabara = a dwelling.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 104](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=112)

### 32. Seldovia Point

Takes its name from Seldovia Bay, whose Russian name means herring bay.

**Memory cue:** Point inherits the herring-bay name.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 852](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=860)

### 33. Seldovia Bay & Watch Point

Seldovia derives from Russian Zaliv Seldevoy, herring bay. Watch Point was locally Lookout Point; the Coast Survey reported Watch in 1908, choosing a synonym to avoid a duplicate name.

**Memory cue:** Herring bay; Lookout becomes Watch.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 852](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=860) · [USGS, p. 1030](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=1038) · [Seldovia Village Tribe](https://svt.org/our-story/)

### 34. Point Naskowhak

USGS records it as a Kenai Indigenous name reported by the Coast Survey in 1908. The consulted entry gives no literal meaning.

**Memory cue:** Indigenous name; meaning unverified.  
**Evidence:** Meaning unresolved. [USGS, p. 675](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=683)

### 35. Point Pogibshi

USGS glosses this Russian name as perilous and records it on a 1943 Coast Survey chart. Attribute that wording to USGS rather than inventing a particular wreck or death associated with the point.

**Memory cue:** USGS historical gloss: perilous.  
**Evidence:** Attributed translation. [USGS, p. 763](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=771)

### 36. Dangerous Cape

An English translation of the Russian name on Tebenkov's 1852 chart; the Coast Survey published Dangerous Cape in 1883.

**Memory cue:** A translated Russian warning.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 256](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=264)

### 37. Bird Reef

Named by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1910. The consulted entry does not identify a particular bird event or species behind the name.

**Memory cue:** Coast Survey, 1910.  
**Evidence:** Naming record. [USGS, p. 137](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=145)

### 38. Passage Island & nearby waterfall

Nathaniel Portlock named Passage Island in 1786 because it stood at the entrance of what he mistakenly thought was a strait leading to the sea. That supposed passage is Port Graham. No separate historical name origin was verified for the nearby mainland waterfall.

**Memory cue:** The passage that wasn't.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 741](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=749)

### 39. Port Graham

Portlock called it Grahams Harbour in 1786. Russians later called the harbor English Bay because of English visits and mapping; Meares called it Cool Bay. USGS does not identify Graham in this entry. Paluwik is the community's Alutiiq name.

**Memory cue:** Portlock's harbor; once called English Bay.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 382](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=390) · [Chugach: Paluwik / Port Graham](https://www.chugach.com/community/paluwik-port-graham)

### 40. Russian Point

The name appears on Portlock's map published in 1789. USGS notes the Russian trading post at Port Graham as historical context; it does not identify one individual Russian namesake.

**Memory cue:** Portlock's map; Russian trading presence.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 822](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=830)

### 41. Nanwalek, English Bay & River

Nanwalek means place by the lagoon in Sugt'stun. The community restored the name in 1991. English Bay originally referred to Port Graham; the Coast Survey reapplied the translated Russian name to the smaller cove in 1909. Keep village, bay and river distinct on your chart.

**Memory cue:** Lagoon place; old bay name moved.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 315](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=323) · [Chugach: Nanwalek](https://www.chugach.com/community/nanwalek) · [Chugachmiut: 1991 restoration](https://www.chugachmiut.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Chugachmiut_50th_Anniversary_Booklet_revised_6-25-24.pdf)

### 42. Flat Island

USGS lists the group as Flat Islands: a descriptive name, presumably given by Dall in 1880. Retain presumably when discussing the namer; continue using the supplied chart/light name in the exam.

**Memory cue:** Flat describes form; Dall attribution is tentative.  
**Evidence:** Probable attribution. [USGS, p. 341](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=349)

## Regional and extra names

### Kachemak Bay

USGS preserves Dall's historical explanation in terms of water, cliff and a suffix meaning high or great, and lists High Cliff Bay as a variant. A historical Army Corps harbor report instead uses Smoky Bay. These are competing published explanations: the useful exam sentence is “Dall interpreted the name with reference to the high cliffs.” Do not present either as a certified modern linguistic translation.

**Memory cue:** Attribute the interpretation to Dall.  
**Evidence:** Competing interpretations. [USGS, p. 482](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=490) · [USACE historical Homer harbor report](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Final_environmental_impact_statement-_Operation_and_maintenance_of_the_Homer_Small_Boat_Harbor%2C_Homer%2C_Alaska_-_USACE-p16021coll7-16374.pdf)

### Grewingk Glacier

Dall named it in 1880 for Constantin Grewingk, who published an important work on Alaska's geology and volcanism in 1850.

**Memory cue:** Grewingk wrote the geology; Dall named the glacier.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 392](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=400)

### Gull Island

For this Kachemak Bay island, USGS records a local name reported by Dall in 1895. Do not borrow the specific naming anecdotes for other Gull Islands in Alaska.

**Memory cue:** Kachemak's Gull: recorded by Dall, 1895.  
**Evidence:** Naming record. [USGS, p. 397](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=405)

### Cape Elizabeth — optional, beyond the route

Cook named the cape in 1778 in connection with Princess Elizabeth's birthday. This is background history only; it does not add the cape or its light to your 42-stop exam route.

**Memory cue:** A princess's birthday, 1778.  
**Evidence:** Documented. [USGS, p. 309](https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/usgs/p/text/p0567.pdf#page=317)

## Use it in the written answer

Add one relevant sentence while describing that part of the bay, then return to the navigational facts. Examples:

- “Eldred Passage and Sadie Cove both commemorate Sarah ‘Sadie’ Eldred Baker.”
- “Portlock named Passage Island in 1786 when he mistook Port Graham for a passage to the open sea.”
- “Watch Point was formerly called Lookout Point; its name was changed to avoid duplication.”

**Research limits:** Unresolved means no reliable origin was established in the consulted sources, not that no such history exists. USGS Professional Paper 567 (Orth, 1967; corrected reprint 1971) is used for name history only. Its old coordinates, soundings, populations and descriptions do not replace your current chart, Coast Pilot or Light List. The original uses historical language for Indigenous peoples; this sheet uses modern respectful wording without inventing translations.