Pilgrim Hot Springs, Ghost town and heritage site in Seward Peninsula, Alaska
Pilgrim Hot Springs is a 320-acre property with roughly 15 abandoned buildings surrounded by poplar, cottonwood, and pine trees near steaming thermal springs. The structures reflect an early 20th-century settlement layout with residences, utility buildings, and central springs that shaped the site's development.
The site began as a recreation center with thermal baths for miners in the 1900s, but a 1908 fire destroyed the original structures. The rebuilding that followed shifted its purpose to serving as a Catholic orphanage for decades.
The orphanage cared for Native children during the 1918 influenza pandemic and relied on the natural hot springs for heating and farming. This role made the settlement a gathering place for survival and community support in a remote northern region.
To visit, you need a free recreational permit and must drive roughly 110 kilometers from Nome in a four-wheel-drive vehicle. The final gravel road section demands careful driving, especially during wet seasons.
The thermal springs reach roughly 81 degrees Celsius and kept water flowing year-round in a region where freezing typically blocks all water sources. This natural heat made settlement possible in an otherwise uninhabitable location.
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