Cooper Landing Post Office (Cooper Landing, AK)

For Memorial Day Weekend, we went camping at the Quartz Creek Campground along the Kenai Lake.  The campground is in Cooper Landing, a small town on the Kenai Peninsula.  This was my first chance to really get out of Anchorage and it was beautiful.  Sunday afternoon, we went over to the Cooper Landing Museum.  I didn't know anything about the town or its history, so the museum was a pleasant surprise.  The museum is actually the old Cooper Landing Post Office, which was listed on the National Register in 1977.  It looks different than it did back in 1977, but it still has its distinctive ornamental facade and rustic appearance.  I'm not sure exactly what happened, but the older addition seems to have been removed and an different older building looks as though it was attached to the original structure.  Perhaps this was done when the property was made into a museum.

Here is a photo from the 1977 nomination:

I didn't have an opportunity to look at the NR nomination before the trip, so I'm learning more about Cooper Landing and the post office more now.  Next time, I'll make sure to see if there are any NR properties near our campsites (you'd think a building geek would already do that).  In addition to the post office, there was also a nomination for a historic district.  It consisted of 5 buildings.  I have a feeling that the newer addition is one of those buildings, added to the post office in hopes of saving the building from demolition.  However, this is only speculation.

The interior of the museum was chock-full of memorabilia and things from the history of Cooper Landing.  It reminded me of an old antique store, but with lots more dead animals in it.

Here's an old photo I found from the Alaska Digital Archives.  It shows a bus to Seward and a wooden bridge that crosses the Kenai River.  There was no approximate date online and it's times like these, that I wish I knew something about automobiles to date structures.  Nevertheless, it's a great shot and shows the importance of the post office as the focal point of the community.

Below are a few details of the building construction. 

Finally, an added treat to the museum was the presence of two adorable sled dogs.  You could go into their cage and pet them.  They were shy, but liked to be pet.  I am a crazy cat lady, but those blue eyes could convert just about anyone.

I'm not sure what my next mini-adventure will be, but hopefully, I'll be getting out of the city more and enjoying the amazing scenery that Alaska has to offer.