There are more than 80 totem poles around Ketchikan, many of which are visible to the public, according to Erika Jayne Christian, program coordinator for Ketchikan Museums, which include the Totem Heritage Center, where the oldest totem poles are found. 

Normally, she said, “They’re only really meant to last a generation – 70 or 80 years from the time that this giant western redcedar is felled and then carved and then raised in ceremony” until it naturally deteriorates. 

However, in the late 19th and early 20^th centuries, residents of Native villages on neighboring islands began moving to Ketchikan for various reasons, including job opportunities. When surveyors went back decades later, they discovered many totem poles had been vandalized or stolen. 

“When it comes to the totem poles, our village was totally wiped out by an expedition that came up,” said Teresa DeWitt, who is Tlingit and serves as a program assistant for Ketchikan Museums.  

To protect the totem poles that remained, elders from Tlingit villages on Tongass Island and Village Island and a Haida village on Prince of Wales Island allowed theirs to be moved. “It was a very big thing,” DeWitt said. “It’s not something we normally do.” 

The Totem Heritage Center was built to house these totem poles, which still belong to the villages’ descendants, and preserve and perpetuate the traditions behind them, with continuing guidance from a Native advisory board. 

Outside the center and elsewhere around Ketchikan, visitors can find newer totem poles, including recreations carved as part of a Civilian Conservation Corps project that began in 1930s and modern-day totem poles by master carvers. 

“There has been a real revival effort, and so people are learning to carve and learning to do Northwest Coast design,” said Dundas. “Totem poles are just a little sliver of the overall beautiful, beautiful culture.” 

What to see

Visitors can see totem poles throughout Ketchikan, but there are three clusters. 

Totem Heritage Center: A $9 Museum Pass covers admission to both the Totem Heritage Center and its sister museum, Tongass Historical Museum. “You’re able to really learn about where it is that you’re visiting … where you are in place and time,” said Christian. 

Single museum admission costs $6 for adults under age 65, and $5 for those who are older. Admission is free for children age 17 and under, active-duty military service members, and local residents. Both museums are in downtown Ketchikan and reachable by foot from the cruise port or the borough’s free shuttle bus during the summer. 

Saxman Totem Park: Visitors can see recreations of historic totem poles, a community clan house and a working totem pole workshop in the Organized Village of Saxman, less than 3 miles from downtown Ketchikan. Totem park tours run throughout the cruise season, from late April to early October. They can be booked directly through Cape Fox Tours, part of the village’s Alaska Native Corporation, or as excursions through cruise lines. Self-guided tours cost $8 while Cape Fox’s guided tours start at $129 and may include additional experiences, like traditional dance performances.

Kristy Shields, who is Tlingit, recalls being told as a kid “that we were going to dance on the dock for big canoes and it ended up being cruise ships.” Now she helps pass the tradition on to younger generations as tours dance manager for Cape Fox Tours. “They are dancing. They know their songs. They know who they are. They know where they come from.” Saxman can be reached by Ketchikan’s free shuttle in the summer or $2 city bus. There is also a foot and bike path, but walking from downtown takes about an hour.  

Totem Bight State Historical Park: More than a dozen Tlingit and Haida totem poles and a community clan house stand in this 11-acre state park, according to a guide on its website. Like many of the totem poles in Saxman, Christian said these were carved as part of a CCC totem pole restoration program. Park admission costs $5 per person from May through September and is free from October through April. The park is roughly 10 miles north of downtown Ketchikan and can be reached by $2 city bus. 

Not-so hidden gems 

Salmon Walk: This scenic 1.5-mile loop meanders through the heart of the city, along Ketchikan Creek, where salmon famously swim in the summer. There are various interpretative signs and points of interest along the way, including famous Creek Street and both Ketchikan museums. Visitors who don’t want to complete the loop can catch a free downtown shuttle from the Totem Heritage Center, which marks the path’s halfway point. 

Southeast Alaska Discovery Center: This is a great point for learning about the region through ranger-led activities, educational films and elaborate exhibits. Three master-carved totem poles in the atrium represent the region’s three main Native peoples. Visitors can learn more through the Native traditions exhibit, developed by Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian elders so “they could tell their own story,” Brewi said. “The voices of the elders echo through that space and it is absolutely beautiful to walk through, especially at the quieter times of the day, because it’s all motion-activated and you can actually stand and just listen to those elders speak.” 

The Southeast Alaska Discovery Center is located a few blocks from the cruise port. Admission is free from October through April. From May through September, admission costs $5 for visitors over the age of 15 and is free for anyone younger. Visitors with America the Beautiful Interagency Passes also get free entry. 

Tongass National Forest: Ketchikan is nestled within America’s largest national forest and the “world’s largest intact temperate rainforest,” according to the USDA. Visitors eager to explore the great outdoors will find over two dozen hiking trails around Ketchikan, many of which can be reached on public transit, according to Brewi. She recommends first stopping by the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center for the latest information on conditions and bears.  

National parks aren’t just places. What you should know about the people.

Best time to visit 

By far, summer is the busiest time of year with the mildest weather and the widest array of visitor experiences. Travelers hoping to avoid crowds may opt to visit early or late in the cruise season.  

However, Dundas notes, “Later in the season, like in October, you’re really, really pushing it with weather and you have to be prepared for Ketchikan weather.” Ketchikan got over 12 feet of rain in 2025, according to the National Weather Service, and October is among its soggiest months.  

She recommends visiting in July and early August, when various festivals are held, and packing a raincoat like locals.  

If you go 

Getting there: Most visitors arrive by cruise, including more than 1.5 million people in 2025, according to the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau.  

Travelers can also fly into Ketchikan International Airport, a short ferry ride away on Gravina Island. Alaska Airlines provides daily service between Ketchikan and Seattle, as well as several other Alaska cities.  

Where to stay: Ketchikan offers a variety of hotels. Campgrounds and vacation rentals are also available nearby. 

The reporter on this story received access from Celebrity Cruises. USA TODAY maintains editorial control. 

The couple became deeply involved in the organization. Virginia became the program director for several years and Cardenas served on the board of directors, including a stint as president.

Over the years, Cardenas and Virginia traveled frequently to Mexico City, Sante Fe and San Francisco to purchase paintings, crosses, ceramics, prints and pottery that cover practically every inch of Cardenas’ ranch home in Chandler.

Cardenas said he considers the collection an embrace of the Mexican heritage he and Virginia shared.

“It’s pride,” Cardenas said during an interview at his home.

“Virginia was born in Mexico. She came here when she was eight,” Cardenas said. “And I never considered myself Mexican American because when I was growing up, those terms weren’t used. So we were Mexicans.”

After Virginia died in 2012, Cardenas commissioned East L.A.-born artist George Yepes to paint a portrait of her. Yepes is best known as the artist who painted the cover of the 1988 Grammy Award-winning album by Los Lobos, “La Pistola y El Corazón.”

At first, Yepes turned down the commission after Cardenas showed her photo of Virginia, who was known for her dazzling smile.

“I can’t do it,” Cardenas recalled Yepes saying. “She’s always smiling. I don’t do smiles.”

A few weeks later, Yepes emailed Cardenas. “I think I can do it.”

The 7-foot-tall portrait Yepes painted of Virginia now hangs in Cardenas’ living room, where it dominates one of the walls. Cardenas considers it his most treasured piece, along with a portrait by a different artist of his three grown sons when they were young.

“The funny thing about this is she was pretty short, she was barely five foot tall. This painting is seven feet. And she’s sitting down. So talk about bigger-than-life-size,” Cardenas told a group of visitors during one of his tours.

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Home is an art gallery, with frequent visitors

Cardenas frequently opens his home to visitors, serving as docent as he escorts visitors from room to room, telling stories along the way about various pieces of artwork.

In addition to the personal tours, Cardenas hosts an annual open house to showcase the ofrendas he creates in honor of Dia de los Muertos. At his Day of the Dead open house in November 2025, during the Trump administration’s ongoing mass deportation effort, one of the ofrendas focused on immigration. The ofrenda included photos of Cardenas’ relatives from Mexico, along with numerous quotes by Pope Francis that Cardenas printed out and framed.

“Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity,” read one quote.

“It is necessary to respond to the globalization of migration with the globalization of charity and cooperation, in such a way as to make the conditions for migrants more humane,” read another.

Cardenas also hosts an annual Los Tres Reyes Magos party every January in honor of Three Kings Day, a Christian holiday that is popular in Mexico and Latino America and marks the biblical visit of the three kings to the baby Jesus. This year’s party, attended by some of the most influential people in Arizona, will be Jan. 10.

One of the most powerful pieces on display in his home is a painting Cardenas commissioned as a tribute to the victims of the 2022 mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The shooting killed 19 students and two teachers, and injured 21 others. The artwork, which Cardenas displays in his dining room, also was painted by Yepes, the artist who painted the portrait of Virginia.

The painting depicts a woman draped in an American flag, her arms and hands outstretched in the shape of a crucifix, with swords piercing her exposed heart, while doves flutter around her head, wrapped in a crown of thorns.

‘Everything they have in the collection was for them’

One of the most striking pieces is a massive Talavera ceramic jar created by artist and restauranteur Gennaro Garcia, a native of San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, who now lives in Phoenix. Garcia created the piece in Puebla, Mexico, where he studied the hand-painted Mexican ceramic artform that blends Spanish and Indigenous influences.

Cardenas had the piece shipped to his home, where he had to remove the table from his kitchen to make room for the artwork, which towers over six feet in height.

Garcia said he strived for years to have his artwork included in the Cardenas’ collection.

“As an artist, you want you want to be in in collection that you admire,” Garcia said. “His collection was already so good, and I wanted to have my name associated with those other artists” and with Virginia and Jose Cardenas as collectors.

Garcia describes the collection as a love story between the couple.

“Everything they have in the collection was for them,” Garcia said. “I always remember them standing in front of the art, talking about it, and then deciding to buy it” as a couple.

Garcia said he was not aware of a larger personal collection of Mexican and Mexican American artwork in Arizona.

“It’s the biggest one. Easy,” Garcia said.

Cristina Cardenas, a Mexican-born artist based in Tucson, agreed.

“In Arizona, to tell you the truth, I haven’t met anybody else with a bigger or more rich collection” especially of Mexican-American and Arizona artists, said Cardenas, who is not related to Jose.

She has sold numerous paintings to Cardenas. The collector also has commissioned her to paint several murals at his home, including a mural of a smiling Virginia that adorns an outdoor wall in the home’s sizable patio, and a mural of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo that greets visitors to his home.

The artist said Cardenas and Virginia have supported many artists through their collecting. They have played a role in opening the door for Latino artists to sell their work to other collectors, Cardenas said, noting that she once sold a print to former Arizona governor and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano through an introduction by Cardenas.

“It’s a commitment to represent our people, our communities, and to represent Mexico and the really highest rich cultural history that it has,” the artist said.

She noted that visitors will notice that Cardenas and Virginia have had a strong interest in collecting female figurative art. They were influential in shifting Xico artists away from depictions of low-riders and other traditional Chicano symbols toward prints and paintings that celebrate female figurative art.

Cardenas the artist, and others, often wonder what will happen to the massive collection after Cardenas is gone.

“It has to be preserved and it has to stay together. That’s my recommendation,” Cardenas the artist said.

Collection is a priceless legacy

Jose Cardenas said he isn’t sure what will become of his collection. He knows that some of the pieces will be passed down to his children and family, including the portrait of Virginia. The rest may go the Hispanic Research Center at Arizona State University, he said.

In the meantime, his collection continues to expand. He recently mounted two new pieces by renowned contemporary American artist Ayana Jackson, who reconstructs the portraiture of the 19th and early 20th centuries to, according to her bio, “assess the impact of the colonial gaze on the history of photography.”