The Towns Today

McCarthy Hardware Store McCarthy and Kennicott are two of the most well preserved ghost towns in America. Kennicott was the quintessential “Company Town” & McCarthy was a fully realized “Sin City”. These towns were inseparably tied together back in the beginning, and they are still inseparable today.

Kennicott is where you will want to spend the day, exploring the town and hiking on the glacier.

McCarthy is where you will want to spend the nights, celebrating at the Golden Saloon, enjoying a gourmet dining experience at the McCarthy Lodge, or just sitting on the porch of the Ma Johnson’s Hotel watching the town go by...

Wagon At one time in history, McCarthy was the largest city in Alaska. (Of course, there was no Anchorage back then.) Indeed, few towns in Alaska are 100 years old and McCarthy celebrated its Centennial in 2006.

Many famous characters ended up in McCarthy, including Kate Kennedy, the town’s most famous madam. There was every luxury you could imagine available in this remote outpost, including a dress maker's shop, several hardware stores, many “Fountains & pool halls” (perfect place to get a drink during prohibition).

Today, McCarthy is still a “mercantile town”. McCarthy Ventures LLC has been restoring much of McCarthy’s downtown since 2001. We are dedicated to the preservation of this area. Our staff, most of whom live here year around, are keenly interested in sharing their town with you. We love the history and we enjoy sharing the stories and lifestyle we live with our guests.

Tales from McCarthy

In the winter of 2006, KTUU, the Anchorage NBC affiliate (Channel 2), came to McCarthy to film a series of short documentaires called "Tales from McCarthy". Each one is a gem of a story from a unique remote Alaskan perspective. These links will take you to 5 different stories - each file is around 7 megs: