It offers visitors a glimpse of both natural and cultural history, and traces the historic footprints of the U.S. Army Base, Fort Schwatka, located at the Ulakta Head on Mount Ballyhoo.

The fort, 800 miles west of Anchorage, the nearest large urban center, was one of four coastal defense posts built to protect Dutch Harbor (crucial back door to the United States) during World War II; Fort Schwatka is also the highest coastal battery ever constructed in the United States.

Although today, many of the bunkers and wooden structures of Fort Schwatka have collapsed, the gun mounts and lookouts are among the most intact in the country.

It is owned and operated by the Ounalashka Corporation but as an affiliated area of the National Park Service receives funding and technical assistance for development and preservation.

Some Aleut worked fox and sheep farms for wages, others became construction workers or longshoremen, but almost all still looked to the sea for sustenance.

The Aleuts' hardships lasted for over two centuries, culminating finally in the forced evacuation from their homeland during World War II.

Heartbroken, Atka villagers watched as U.S. servicemen set their homes and church afire so they would not fall into Japanese hands.