The site is on the south-facing shoreline of the peninsula, wedged between the Pacific Ocean and a group of saltwater lakes called the Ankau Saltchucks.

The site is now densely forested, with little visible evidence of human occupation, beyond a single log wall section seen during a state archaeological survey in 1971.

[6] New Russia was established in 1796 by the Russian-American Company as one of a series of outposts and settlements that extended as far south as Old Sitka (called Redoubt St. Archangel Michael by the Russians).

[7] A settlement group of 192 Russians were finally landed in June 1796; that year they built two large log buildings, a palisade, and a blockhouse.

Alexander Baranov organized a response to this attack, and used the New Russia site as a launching point for the 1804 operation which resulted in the founding of present-day Sitka.