The Shakes are a long line of Tlingit leaders (the current leader is Chief Shakes X). They are represented on this tiny, grassy islet slap bang in the middle of the scruffy boat harbor, reached by a pedestrian bridge. The islet is dominated by the Shakes Community House, a re-creation of a traditional Tlingit tribal house fashioned by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1940. The totems holding the building up are originals thought to date from the 1840s.
The house is open only to accommodate cruise ships – call the Wrangell Museum for times. The islet also sports six more totems, all duplicates of originals carved in the late 1930s.