The great explorer
Captain Cook is the most likely cause of Nome's name. The legend goes that he found the large cape or outcropping of rock now known as
Cape Nome, which presently contains a large
quarry, and wasn't sure what to call it. He wrote "no name" on his map, which then was misread or shortened by others as "Nome".
Nome is the only "
wet" town in the
Seward Peninsula. Translation: all the
Eskimos come there to get drunk. Nome itself has more bars than any other building, littering
Main Street, and surrounding some churches. There being no
alcohol in any other part of the peninsula, none of the
Eskimos are exceptional drinkers. When they come into to the "big city" of Nome to sell their Ivory and other commodities, they invariably get caught at the bars, leaving me to dodge drunken
Inuits when I walked down the streets.
Nome lies on the southern side of the
Seward Peninsula, named after the man who bought
Alaska from the
Russians for an incredibly low sum. To the east of the town is Cape Nome, for which the town is named. Just to the North is
Anvil Rock, a large and recognizable rock outcropping at the top of an impressive hill. The rock looks exactly like a
giant's anvil, sitting on top of the mountain waiting for its master's return. The hill also contains numerous deceased military complexes, such as radar stations used in
WWII. Old military hardware litters the peninsula, with thousands upon thousands of
55-gallon barrels piled in heaps in random places in the countryside.
Last I knew, Nome is home to the only
Burger King in that part of
Alaska, and has many characteristics of a much larger city, such as a
decent airport. The "
Golden Nugget Inn" is the largest hotel, which services the tourists who come to the old mining town. While the gold mining used to be huge in Nome, its relics can still be seen. Driving towards Cape Nome, you pass the famous
derelict train, which sits, silent in a field. The old
dredge buckets, used by giant machines that scooped the ground up with the giant metal scoops, are now used for everything from storage to
flower gardens.
Biographical note: I lived in
Nome for two summers while my dad worked for the government doing contracted environmental cleanup work. It involved picking up all those barrels, deconstructing 40 year old
fuel storage tanks, and flying around in a
helicopter looking for
things. A very interesting couple of summers.