Perhaps Alaska's rich history is best exemplified by the indigenous tribes who settled the land thousands of years ago – and never left. One notable example is the Tlingit (pronounced klingit) tribe, who originally settled in southeast Alaska more than 11,000 years ago. Though the majority of current-day Tlingit hold jobs and live in typical American nuclear family households, many still hold fast to native culture and beliefs, including an emphasis on family and kinship, as well as wealth, generosity and proper behavior. Native Tlingit culture also remains strong, with spirituality incorporated into everything from spoons and storage boxes to towering totem poles.

Tlingit artisans carved numerous totem poles that served the same purpose as today's billboards, signs or tombstones – telling stories, documenting important events and family history, honoring heritage, mourning the dead and exacting payment or revenge. Filled with brightly-colored symbols that represented clan lineage, they followed a strict hierarchy – curved-beaked eagles and straight-beaked ravens at the top, followed by beavers, foxes, bears and frogs. And contrary to today's negative connotations of the expression "low man on the totem pole," the bottom figure was usually the most important. As a finishing touch, many Tlingit carvers included human figures at the top to warn of approaching danger.

The Tlingit also carved "shame poles" to recall arguments, murders and other unpleasant events, or to publicly ridicule dishonorable behavior. Likenesses depicted with red ears and mouths indicated a person's stinginess. Figures carved upside down represented those who owed debts. But the Tlingit were forgiving by nature – if the debtor paid up, the tattletale pole was chopped down and discarded, replaced by a new pole that positioned the atoner correctly.

One famous, still-standing example is the Lincoln Pole in Saxman Village, near Ketchikan. Topped by a figure of our 16th president, the pole was apparently created to shame the U. S. government into repaying the Tlingit people for slaves freed by Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

Today, other astonishing examples of Tlingit totem poles stand in and around Ketchikan, though they're not as plentiful as they were in the past. Early missionaries mistakenly considered them religious symbols and objects of worship and directed converts to burn them. But the ones that remain still tell the tale of a proud native tradition.

See startling examples of authentic Tlingit totem poles during the "Totem and Town Tour" excursion. View Itineraries for a complete list of cruises that visit Ketchikan.