Miller’s Landing is located in the small, secluded community of Lowell Point just 2½ miles south of Seward. It has a very unique Alaskan charm, and is literally at the “end of the road.” Where the road ends on Lowell Point, the Alaska State Parks and Kenai Fjords National Park systems begin. The panoramic view from our campground and storefront porch is unbeatable – ask any Sewardite! It includes Resurrection Bay, the City of Seward, Mount Alice, Caines Head, and the barrier islands that protect the region from the Gulf of Alaska: Fox Island, Hive Island, and Rugged Island.
We are surrounded by the awesome beauty of the contrast created as the mountains rise straight out of the ocean in every direction. Lowell Point is home to a large inter-tidal zone that attracts marine wildlife of all types. It’s not uncommon to spot humpback or orca whales right from our beachfront, watch harbor seals roll and feed, and see bald eagles hanging out on the beach. Salmon of all types can be caught right from the shore as the season progresses, from kings to silvers, reds to pinks and chums, and you can commonly spot them skipping across the bay, sometimes in seemingly impossible numbers. Sea otters eat the mussels and clams found on the beach, and, if you’re quiet, you can even hear them cracking the shells open while sitting on our front porch.
This can be all be seen throughout the day sometimes only a dozen feet offshore. Many locals and visitors alike over the last 40+ years Miller’s Landing has been in business have been taken in by the friendly Alaskan charm of this small, oceanfront community.
Lowell Point is neither crowded nor commercialized. There are still many remnants of the Miller homestead in place, from the subsistence farm that supported Grandma Penny and her six children to the heavy equipment required to settle the raw country. There was no road or other utility here, and everything that needed to be done to survive and prosper was done by the family.
It wasn’t until the late 1980s that running water and electricity made it to Miller’s Landing proper; before then, water was hauled or pumped by hand and a small generator provided electricity for a few hours per day. The original store was framed from the infrastructure of a wooden barge that washed ashore – absolutely nothing goes to waste on a homestead. In short, what you see when you come to Lowell Point today was done largely by the people you see living here. It has grown significantly over the last 40 years but remains full of the charm associated with a quaint Alaskan fishing and kayaking community.
Lowell Point originally had two homesteads: one dissolved and was subdivided. The other, the Miller Family homestead, was founded in territorial Alaska in the 1950s by Grandma Penny and her children. Today, the majority of the original homestead remains intact, and much of the Miller family is still in the area. Three of the six children live or maintain homes on Lowell Point, including Aunt Maggie, Aunt Mary, Miller’s Landing founder Mike Miller, and his two sons. Over the years, Miller’s Landing has grown from a tiny campground with more skiffs than skiff trailers to a robust fishing and kayaking camp on the oceanfront.
We’ve been able to plumb potable water for fill stations, build a bathroom, laundry, and shower facility, run electricity to over 100 RV sites on the beach, riverside, and in the woods, build our own fish cleaning table and launch ramp, develop a sizable kayaking fleet, and custom build water taxi and charter vessels to skillfully handle the Alaskan environment we know best. Our office, store, and cafe space features a large covered deck, wood-fired heat, and free coffee nearly 20 hours per day during the summer season, with a booking desk to help you plan every conceivable part of your Alaskan vacation. We work with everyone we possibly can and we don’t charge a commission for anything that we do. Whether you know what you would like or need some help planning, contact us and we’ll do everything we can to help!
Grandma Penny (Ethel Louise Bumcrot – but if you called her by her given name her warm demeanor would quickly fade) raised chickens, geese, ducks, pigs, cows, horses, turkeys, goats, and any number of homeless dogs and cats at a time on the homestead’s farm. For many years she sold farm fresh eggs at the campground’s store. After a flood damaged their home in 1957 the family spent five years on the remote island of LaTouche near the entrance of Prince William Sound, where she and her children lived at the recently abandoned Kennecott Copper Mine.
The children were homeschooled and moved from Lowell Point to the hunting and fishing mecca of (still) remote Alaska. Her children all consider LaTouche close to their hearts, and you might as well – having the run of an abandoned mining town as a child in an Alaskan wilderness! The correspondence school in Letouche only went until sixth grade, so the family returned to the homestead in the early ’60s, but unfortunately their original home was destroyed by a fire in 1963.
During the earthquake of 1964, the family lived in the full basement of their new home, as it was still under construction, and it managed to weather the disaster. The commercial fishing fleet of Seward was nearly a total loss. In the summer of ’64, the family started a campground and boat rental business to make ends meet, and though the business was only open for four years, it made such an impression on young Mike that in 1982 he started Miller’s Landing.
Fishing is a labor of love for Mike and his sons, and though he’s since retired, he is still considered one of the most experienced local guides, having fished his entire life and charter-fished for over 36 years in the area. Our clients have enjoyed fishing with Captain Mike and the boys – both licensed captains – for many years while he shows them the waters and land he knows so well.
The Millers’ two sons (Chance and Tom) both grew up on the homestead and, as such, on the boats. They deckhanded for their father on the charter boats and learned the fishing trade from a young age. Both have spent a significant amount of time on the United States Antarctic Program’s research vessels and worked on research vessels in the Arctic during the off-season as well. Living at sea is a lot like living on a homestead – you spend a lot of time doing what you “can’t” do.
Captains Mike, Sherrie, Tom, and Chance have a collective expertise that they love to share and pass on to visitors and the community.
At Miller’s Landing, we’ve worked hard to keep the business going – still family-run since 1982. We hope you notice and appreciate the homemade and do-it-yourself nature of our facility. We take great pride in showing our visitors Alaska through our own eyes, and we just want the opportunity to make these things as special to you as they are to us.