Maxine & Jesse Whitney Museum


For a small town Valdez has several wonderful museums, including this one, the private collection of an American couple who settled in Alaska in 1947 and became enthusiastic horders of Alaska Native art, artifacts and taxidermy. It's all incredibly well put together with written commentaries that debate and question rather than preach. Enjoy the ivory and baleen artwork, moose-antler furniture, natural-history displays and very creative stuffed animals.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Trail of the Whispering Giants

0.22 MILES

A huge 25ft-high rendering of an Alaska Native in Sitka spruce warily guards Prince William Sound College. The sculpture by Peter Wolf Toth is one in a…

2. Valdez Museum

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This lovingly curated museum includes an ornate, steam-powered antique fire engine, a 19th-century saloon bar and the ceremonial first barrel of oil to…

3. Civic Center

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The Civic Center sits amid greenery with picnic tables, a small lake and the short Overlook Trail in close proximity.

4. Small-boat Harbor

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Valdez’ harbor is a classic: raucous with gulls and eagles, reeking of fish guts, sea salt and creosote, and home to all manner of vessels. The benches…

5. Valdez Museum Annex

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This annex of the Valdez Museum is dominated by a scale model of the Old Valdez township. Each home destroyed in the Good Friday Earthquake has been…

6. Old Valdez

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Old Valdez is like a wilder, starker, less trammeled version of Italy's Pompeii. This is where the town stood before the devastating 1964 earthquake…

7. Trans-Alaska Pipeline Terminal

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Across the inlet from town, Valdez’ ever-pumping heart once welcomed visitors, but since September 11, 2001, stricter security protocols have closed it to…

8. Columbia Glacier

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This is the star glacial attraction in Prince William Sound – a large sea inlet named by British colonizers after a young English prince in the eighteenth…