Russian Old Believer's Village

The Russian Old Believer's village of Nikolaevsk is 9 miles east off the Sterling highway which connects Homer at the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula to Anchorage in the north. This isolated community is one of several on the Kenai peninsula where these traditional Russian Orthodox people live. Nearly all of these people speak both Russian and English with the woman and girls wearing scarves and ankle length dresses. Note the attention to detail in the construction in the church and the colourful painting of a tree outside the cafe. Other than these two colourful spots the rest of the village has the appearance of abandonment and desolation.