Kekerten Territorial Park, Provincial park in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Canada.
Kekerten Territorial Park, formerly Kekerten Territorial Park and now Qikiqtan Territorial Park, covers Kekerten Island in Nunavut's Qikiqtaaluk Region, about 50 km south of Pangnirtung. On the island stand the remains of a whaling station founded in 1840 by William Penny, including visible storehouse ruins and the remains of a whaling ship.
Whale hunters from Britain and America set up a station here in 1840 and started commercial whaling in northern waters. This activity shaped the area for many decades.
The station was a meeting point where British and American whalers depended on Inuit guides and hunters to find whales in Cumberland Sound. The Inuit name Kekerten refers to the island's shape, and the site is now part of Qikiqtan Territorial Park, renamed from Kekerten.
Kekerten Island has no road link; the only way in is a three-hour boat ride from Pangnirtung in summer, or a longer snowmobile trip in winter. Trips depend on ice and weather, so arrange transport and local guidance in Pangnirtung before setting out.
The park was renamed Qikiqtan Territorial Park, though the old name Kekerten is still widely used. Among the ruins left by the whalers are the remains of a whaling ship as well as the storehouses, so the site records both the shore station and the vessels that worked Cumberland Sound.
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