In October 1998, Mr. Shen from Taiwan, China, went on vacation to Whittier Town, known as "the loneliest town in the world".
Unexpectedly, after coming here, Mr. Shen was pleasantly surprised and liked it very much.
This town, all the inhabitants, but only three hundred people, all "dwelling" in one building.
"It's amazing!" Mr. Shen decided to stay and not leave.
01
In 2018, like Mr. Shen, Zhang Xinyu and Liang Hong came here with great curiosity after hearing about this so-called "loneliest town in the world".
In fact, before they came here, they still had some "prejudices" against this town in their hearts.
After all, hearing the word "loneliest" gives people the feeling of being withdrawn and not liking to deal with the outside world.
Moreover, getting in and out of the town of Whittier is more troublesome, except for the boat, there is only a 4.2 km long mountain tunnel. Because the tunnel is too narrow, only one-way traffic is allowed. Inside the tunnel, on the rock wall next to it, there are traces of artificial excavation.
After entering the tunnel, Liang Hong looked at the jagged rock wall and thought a lot.
"I don't know what the other side of the tunnel is like? I don't know if the people in the town will be particularly difficult to get along with? Thinking of this, she couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive in her heart.
When they reached the exit of the tunnel, they saw a small point of light slowly coming towards them, as if to welcome their arrival. And this narrow, pitch-black tunnel is like Tao Yuanming's "peach blossom source", the only passage connected to the outside.
Out of the tunnel, Zhang Xinyu and Liang Hong were immediately shocked by the scenery in front of them. Just because the two ends of the tunnel are completely different weather, and they seem to have just passed through the long tunnel and entered another wonderful snow-white world.
Once they entered the town, they learned that not only were entry and exit times strict: the tunnel closed at 10:30 p.m.
In the very center of the town, stands a lonely building. And there are not a few walking people and cars around...
Everything here tells the story of the uniqueness and loneliness of this place.
Liang Hong looked at the building and sighed in her heart: "People here won't all stand behind the windows of the building and stare at us indifferently, right?" ”
Soon, however, they realized that they were worrying too much.
02
In fact, the people of Whittier are very hospitable.
When they saw Zhang Xinyu and Liang Hong, they would also take the initiative to greet them, which made Zhang Xinyu and Liang Hong "flattered".
What surprised the two even more was that there was actually a Chinese bar here.
The owner of the bar is Mr. Shen, who used to work as an executive at a company in Taiwan. In October 1998, Mr. Shen came to Whittier for a tour, and saw the simple local customs and beautiful scenery, and fell in love with it. So, he decided to stay here and make his home.
After that, Mr. Shen not only brought his wife to Whittier, but also opened a bar there. Later, even their son came here to help.
In this exotic town covered in ice and snow all year round, every Spring Festival, Mr. Shen will put up New Year paintings in front of his house. Even if they are the only ones here, they are Chinese going to have a happy New Year.
However, after being away from home for a long time, Mrs. Shen will often think of her hometown, but the distance is far away, and the bar business is non-stop all year round, so the couple has never been able to find time to go back.
Whenever Mrs. Shen nags about returning to her hometown, Mr. Shen will point to the sea to comfort her: "The sea here connects to the Pacific Ocean, and every time you say a Chinese word, the wind will bring your homesickness home!" ”
Referring to the fact that this place is called "the loneliest town", Mr. Shen smiled and explained: "Actually, it is not lonely here. It's like the old Chinese poem says, 'This peace of mind is my hometown'. ”
Yes, as long as it is a place where you can calm your heart, it can be your hometown.
In addition, in addition to the bar, there is a museum in the town called "Prince William Bay Museum", and Mr. Shen is also the director of this museum.
The museum houses historical sites related to the small town of Whittier, and Zhang Xinyu and Liang Hong also learned about the long history of the town of Whittier.
Most of the facilities in the town, which were built decades ago, are rusty and tell people about what has been experienced here.
03
In fact, before World War II, Whittier was still deserted.
During World War II, Japan, which was extremely ambitious, wanted to expand the scope of aggression northward after invading Asia.
The threatened United States desperately needed to find a hidden place in Alaska and garrison troops to contain Japan.
So, they sent a squad and looked around. Unexpectedly, in the end, a place that was not only hidden, but also had a deep-water ice-free harbor.
For the US military, building a barracks here is undoubtedly the best choice.
In 1939, a military port was built on the land by the US military and named "Camp Sullivan".
In order to be able to get in and out, the US military dug a train tunnel under the granite of the mountain for 77 days, and built a railway specifically to transport supplies. Later, the tunnel became known as the "Anderson Memorial Tunnel".
Since then, Camp Sullivan has become an important port for U.S. troops to move in and out of cargo. It was not until 1960, when American troops withdrew from the area.
During this period, the US military also built two new buildings in the camp, the Buckner Building and the Vegić High-rise Building.
At the beginning, in order to withstand the cold and prevent the soldiers of the army from exposing themselves too much, the US military built a fully equipped 6-story building and named it "Buckner".
However, due to the increase in the number of military dependents, the Buckner Building was clearly inadequate. So, in 1957, the army built a larger and taller building, the Vegić Tall Building.
Vegić is a 15-storey building with a total of 150 houses, ranging from one, two and three bedrooms to 3 different units.
However, three years after the building was built, the army was completely withdrawn because it could not bear the harsh weather here, leaving only some residents and workers scattered here.
After the withdrawal of troops, the Buckner building and the Begić tall building were left vacant.
In 1964, an unprecedented earthquake and tsunami of magnitude 9.2 killed a third of the population and collapsed large areas of houses.
However, after the disaster, the residents who survived the disaster were surprised to find that the two buildings built by the previous army were not damaged in the tsunami.
So the remaining 200-odd residents discussed together and decided to abandon their former home and move to their ideal "safe haven", the Bedgic building.
In 1969, because there was a glacier called Whittier nearby, they also named the place Whittier. From then on, the town of Whittier began to exist as an administrative region.
04
The surviving townspeople, after moving into the Begić high-rise building, found that there were many more places in the building. As a result, some government service agencies, as well as entertainment venues, etc., have also moved in.
Over time, the Bergić building has more and more institutions and facilities, containing almost everything the residents need in their daily lives: city hall, police station, bank, post office, school, clinic, supermarket, church, laundromat, video store, etc. Even if you don't go out of the building for the rest of your life, don't worry.
In fact, the residents of the town basically work in the institutions in the building. Most of them are civil servants who go to work every day without worrying about traffic jams, being late, or even sneaking home to drink saliva between jobs.
In addition, they are very comfortable in their work, such as removing snow from roads or repairing houses.
However, there are also very few people who go to work in Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska. It takes less than an hour and a half by car.
If you want to say that the easiest profession in this town is definitely the police.
The Whittier Police Department was established by a sheriff named Gordon Whittier, along with two other officers. To this day, the Whittier Police Department remains that size.
After all, the town is just a building, and everyone lives in it, and most of them are colleagues, relatives and friends, so the neighbors get along happily, and there is no need to worry about any criminal incidents, and even "staying at night" is not afraid of losing things.
In addition, there are two supermarkets in the Begić building, which can provide basic daily necessities for the townspeople, and most of the items can be bought here if they are not very special.
In addition to the supermarket, there is a church and a hospital in the building, and even a vegetable farm in the building. In fact, this farm is for children to learn to grow, and it is managed by the school.
However, the school here is not built in the Begić building, but in a low-rise building immediately behind the building.
The school and the building are closely connected by a tunnel. Students travel from home to school in minutes and are never late for school. Teachers and students also live very close, and for disobedient children, teachers are always watching.
In fact, Whittier's isolated location attracts many people like Mr. Shen to come to "seclusion". They live at this end of the tunnel, maximizing isolation.
June, an old lady who lives on the top floor of the building, is in her 70s. Like Mr. Shen, she also liked it when she came to the town to travel.
The old lady has always been a person who loves to travel, and even once sailed on the sea for 18 days.
Today, although she stops and no longer goes far away, she still goes skiing when it snows, or goes to Florida for vacation and sunbathing. It's been a great time!
05
More and more people have a yearning for this place after knowing this magical place.
In addition to the unique lifestyle, Whittier also has an incomparably beautiful natural scenery, attracting a large number of tourists to experience and appreciate it.
The small town of Whittier, located in the Chugach National Forest, the second largest national forest in the United States, is not only surrounded by lush mountains, but also has waterfalls cascading from ice cliffs, rugged and steep fjords, and majestic glaciers.
Especially in summer, when the weather is clear, the scenery is a must.
In addition to the beauty, there are many different species of wildlife: seals, glacial bears, whales, sea lions, seabirds, black-tailed deer and many more.
In fact, the glacier here can also quench the "appetite".
In Whittier, there is a profession that specializes in collecting ice from glaciers. You know, these are not ordinary ice cubes, they are all "cold ice" from 10,000 years ago.
After the ice pickers collect the ice, they process it and make it into crystal clear ice balls for sale. Whittier's hockey is sold in restaurants and fine bars in New York and Manhattan.
Today, the town of Whittier welcomes more than 700,000 visitors a year, and the local government has added a number of sea ferries to make it easier for tourists to get in and out.
Fortunately, Whittier Pier is quite large, and it can accommodate nearly 100 cruise ships at the same time. This also provides more convenience for those who are rich, and they can directly drive their own yachts here.
With the increase in visitors, the top two floors of the Begić building have been converted into hotels, and each room has been decorated in a different themed style.
In recent years, a new self-service Chinese seafood restaurant has been built here. The town's excellent location makes the seafood here exceptionally delicious.
06
Today, more than half a century has passed since the small town of Whittier was built, but time here seems to pass slowly.
Zhang Xinyu and Liang Hong strolled through the small town of Whittier, and the time seemed to go back to decades ago, where everyone lived their lives leisurely, regardless of the vicissitudes of the outside world.
At night, the warm yellow lights come on, which is very healing and warm: the people here not only love life, but also work hard to live.
In fact, there are also many inconveniences here, such as: the people upstairs and downstairs are neighbors for decades, and they want to fall in love, but they are too familiar and have to give up...
Others say, "Beauty is beauty here, but quiet is a little too weird." ”
However, those who like this place will feel that they can get away from the noise and find true peace of mind.
All different sounds are normal, after all, "each flower into each eye". The poems and distant places we envy are the firewood, rice, oil and salt that they are familiar with, and the life we are tired of may be the poems and distant places they yearn for.
Author: Ha Yu Jutsu
Resources:
1. "The most homely town in the world, residents can live a lifetime without leaving home" Phoenix Net, January 24, 2019;
2. "The loneliest town in the world" Southeast Satellite TV "The Pole of the Earth: Couples" season 2, January 2019.