Thank you to Bud Kuenzli for sharing this drone video of the S.S. Nenana with us. Bud retired in 1984 as a school teacher in the bush. He has always considered the SS Nenana the anchor to the park and the city itself. He feels there is nothing more symbolic of our local history than the amazing sternwheeler and its story. The video was done simply because videography and photography have long been a pastime of his; he thought the SS Nenana would be a beautiful subject, and we agree!
Are you searching for what you can do with your time or your funds? We, the members of The SS Nenana, are reaching out to the community (you, the residents of Fairbanks or Alaska) to help us restore the SS Nenana.
We need your ideas, your time and your input that could help us on our mission. Please consider becoming a member and help us save this ship which is the last of her kind. It is listed on the historical register and Endangered Listing of Historical Items.
The SS Nenana helped build our city and Alaska. She served the villages from Nenana to Marshall on the coast. Now it needs us to serve her by whatever way you can. Sign up to volunteer time at the SS Nenana Cabin at Pioneer Park from Memorial Day through Labor Day. If that doesn’t fit your schedule and you have extra funds to donate to our restoration fund great! Maybe you know someone that could join you and share time with you in spreading the word of our goal? Possibly you are proficient at building and keeping UpToDate a website? Open to your ideas.
If you have any questions or are interested in our mission, please call us:
For years the sign mounted next to the S.S. Nenana in Pioneer Park displayed the wrong name until the Friends of S.S. Nenana contacted the maker of the sign, Hardluck Studios Custom Signs & Design, to correct it.
The S.S. Nenana is literally the “Last Lady of the River,” who plied the Tanana and Yukon Rivers. At one period in Alaskan history, over 300 flat-bottomed sternwheelers were navigating on the Yukon River and its tributaries. Only one remains in Alaska, the Steamer Nenana.
The wooden-hulled, western river-style steam sternwheel passenger/cargo boat Nenana is the only large wooden-hulled sternwheeler not only left in Alaska but left in the U.S. She is a living museum of history that must be preserved for perpetuity.
The Friends of S.S. Nenana are honored to have been able to pay to have the sign changed to reflect the correct name and importance of this National Historic Landmark. The Friends of SS Nenana are dedicated to restoring and preserving the S.S. Nenana.
Thank you to Hardluck Studios Custom Signs & Design for doing such a beautiful job and Pioneer Park manager Lee Williams for assisting us in removing and remounting the sign.
The Friends of S.S. Nenana Inc. is a non-profit organization whose fiscal sponsor is the North Star Community Foundation. Donations can be made online to support the restoration of the S.S. Nenana at
