Totem Bight sits on a forested headland about ten miles north of downtown, where a collection of fifteen totem poles and a reconstructed clan house stand against a backdrop of spruce and hemlock. The poles were carved in the 1930s by Civilian Conservation Corps workers alongside Tlingit and Haida master carvers, part of a New Deal programme to document and preserve native art that might otherwise be lost. They are not originals but historically important recreations, and the setting — the forest edge, the narrow channel, the mountains beyond — is genuinely beautiful.
The clan house is open to visitors in summer and gives a sense of scale and interior arrangement. The site is uncrowded even when cruise ships are in; most passengers don't make the journey north. Take the bus or rent a car, allow an hour, and combine it with a stop at Ward Lake for a short rainforest walk.