POINT HOPE
The Community
Point Hope is located near the end of a triangular spit which juts 15 miles into the Chukchi Sea about 248 miles southwest of Barrow. This peninsula is one of the longest continually inhabited areas in North America. Some of the earliest residents came to the peninsula for bowhead whaling some 2,000 years ago after crossing the Siberian land bridge.
Visitors to the area can see the remains of Old Tigara Village, a prehistoric site with the remains of sod houses. There is an even earlier site with about 800 house pits known as Ipiutak, occupied from about 500 BC to 100 AD. Ipiutak and the surrounding archaeological district are on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to the prehistoric village sites, there are old burial grounds in the area including a cemetery marked by large whale bones standing on end.
Point Hope was incorporated in 1966 and six years later became a second-class city. Erosion and a threat of storm flooding from the Chukchi Sea led to its relocation to higher ground in the mid 1970s.
Population and Economy
Point Hope is the second largest city on the North Slope with a population of 764 and a labor force of about 293. Inupiat Eskimos make up about 91 percent of Point Hope's population. The local economy is largely based on subsistence hunting, fishing and whaling. The Borough employs and the School District employs around 40 percent of the workforce in Point Hope. The second largest employer is the Tigara Corporation.
Residents produce a wide array of arts and crafts for sale including carved ivory, baleen baskets, whale bone, masks, caribou skin masks, etched baleen, Eskimo parkas, ivory tipped harpoons and bird spears.
Quality of Life
The North Slope Borough provides public electricity and maintains a water treatment facility and a sewage pumping facility. The Borough also provides trash and sewage pick-up free of charge. A health clinic, staffed by community health aides, is open each day and is available 24 hours a day for emergencies. Other public facilities include the city hall, police station, fire station, senior citizen center, day care center and a Laundromat. Point Hope has a public transportation system.
Tikigaq School provides education from pre-school to grade 12 and offers adult basic education classes. Communications in town include phones, mail, public radio, and cable TV and DSL Internet Services.
Tigara Corporation, Point Hope's village corporation, runs the Native store and sells groceries, clothing, first-aid supplies, hardware, camera film and sporting goods. City law prohibits the sale or possession of alcohol. Fuel in town includes marine gas, diesel, propane, unleaded, regular and supreme.
The community comes together to celebrate the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and unites for Nalukataq, the feast at the end of a successful whaling season. Other activities include boating, wildlife, whale watching and bingo. Churches in the community include an Episcopal Church, Assembly of God and Church of Christ.
Point Hope is served by scheduled and chartered flights from Barrow and Kotzebue.
For more information contact:
City of Point Hope
PO Box 169
Point Hope, AK 99766
(907) 368-2537