Nome (Alaska)

Nome is a city in the Arctic region of Alaska. It is a town of about 4,000 people, about half of whom are Alaska Natives. It is the transportation and commerce center for Northwest Alaska. It also is the western terminus of the Iditarod Trail.

Climate
The Nome region has a tundra climate, with cool summers and very cold winters.

History
Nome's main claim to fame is a gold rush that happened at the turn to the twentieth century and caused the population to grow to over 20,000. There is still gold and mining, with the area being the home base for the reality TV series Bering Sea Gold, but the gold lying openly on the beaches is a thing of the past. It was the end point of the 1925 serum run to Nome from the port city of Seward to fight a diphtheria epidemic in town, an event which inspired the 1995 animated film Balto.

By ship
Cruise Ship: There are a couple cruise ships a year that stop in Nome as part of a trip through the Northwest Passage.

Get around
Car, bus, and taxi.

See




Go next

 * Council — No-one has lived in Council since 1990. However, the population can pass 100 in summer, when inhabitants of Nome drive to Council to stay in one of the abandoned homes as a vacation home. It is accessible via the Nome-Council Highway, a 72-mile dirt road, in a pretty wooded valley.
 * Solomon — a tiny town that is next on the Iditarod Trail
 * Teller — at 200, a sizable town for this part of Alaska, near the Bering Strait and accessible via the beautiful 70-mile dirt Nome-Teller Highway