Spruce Island (Alaska)

Spruce Island (Russian: Еловый остров) is an island in the Kodiak Archipelago of the Gulf of Alaska in the US state of Alaska. It lies just off the northeast corner of Kodiak Island, across the Narrow Strait. Spruce Island has a land area of 46.066 km² (17.786 sq mi) and a population of 242 as of the 2000 census,^[1] mostly in its only city, Ouzinkie, in the southwestern part of the island.

Russian Orthodox Church monastery at Monk's Lagoon on Icon Bay, Spruce Island

From 1808 to 1818, Spruce Island was the hermitage of Herman of Alaska, later glorified as a saint and considered the patron saint of the Orthodox Church in the Americas. The island is a site of pilgrimages by Orthodox Christians.

In 2008, researchers led by the mayor of the northern Siberian city Yakutsk alleged that the island should legally still belong to the Russian Orthodox Church, as it would not have been included in the Alaska Purchase.

References

1. Spruce Island: Blocks 2034 thru 2045, Census Tract 1, Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska United States Census Bureau

Coordinates: 57°55′05″N 152°24′35″W / 57.9180556°N 152.4097222°W