The Little Red Schoolhouse and the Denali Model
Near Talkeetna, Alaska
Talkeetna's history is kept alive by the Talkeetna Historical Society, founded in nineteen seventy two by residents who wanted to save the town's original schoolhouse. That little red schoolhouse is now the heart of a small museum complex of historic buildings tucked just off Main Street. The most remarkable exhibit sits in the old railroad section house.
It is a large three dimensional relief model of Denali, showing the mountain's ridges, glaciers, and climbing routes in miniature. The model draws on the mapping of Bradford Washburn, the legendary mountaineer, mapmaker, and photographer who charted the Alaska Range with the help of pilot Don Sheldon. Around the model hang Washburn's famous black and white photographs of the peak, images so sharp that climbers have used them to plan expeditions.
Standing before that model, you can trace the West Buttress route that hundreds of climbers follow each summer, and understand at a glance why Talkeetna and the mountain are inseparable. The society also preserves the district's railroad and mining history, from nineteen sixteen through the nineteen thirties. For a town this small, it is an unusually rich window into a very large story.
