Chief Shakes Island is a small grassy islet in the middle of Wrangell Harbour, reached by a pedestrian bridge from the boat dock. At its centre stands a reconstruction of a Tlingit clan house surrounded by seven totem poles, two of them original Tlingit work. The house interior holds four carved house posts that date to the 1790s, making them among the oldest and finest examples of traditional Tlingit art still accessible to the public.
The Wrangell Cooperative Association, the local Tlingit tribal organisation, manages the site and opens the house for guided tours when cruise ships are in port and by arrangement at other times. The surrounding harbour view — fishing boats, snow-capped peaks, the forested shoreline — is worth the short walk regardless of whether the house is open. The island also serves as the final resting place of several Shakes-line chiefs, whose graves are marked on the far side of the islet.