There were just so many unknowns. Where to even start? On a whim, I visited Google and started a conversation with the builtin search AI language model. Just for ships ’n gills. My first question:
“What are the costs associated with living in cabins in Alaska? Imagine a former setnet site with multiple cabins. Daily tender runs.”
I had to start somewhere. After going back and forth a bit with Google’s AI, I was officially “more than curious.” The AI had been a useful tool. I decided to start a new conversation within the ChatGPT free platform to better archive the discussion. I fed the chatbot the transcript of the conversation I had with the other AI. Among the chatbot’s response was this one sentence summary of the vision that had formed in my previous discussion:
Restore a historic Kodiak fish camp into a seasonal off-grid creative campus where artists, educators, and other creatives live, work, and teach while helping preserve a unique piece of Alaska’s maritime heritage.
More ambitious than anything I had considered before. I asked about grants.
Yes. In fact, I think one of the biggest opportunities here is that your project sits at the intersection of multiple funding categories.
It was a little much, realizing the listing I had stumbled upon was, in fact, Prominent Mound. I had often imagined returning someday. Somehow. Sometime. Owning the place? Could I really go back? Should I even entertain the possibility? Was I chasing the past? Running away? Or simply paying attention to something I had ignored for too long? Maybe I was crazy. I’ve been called worse before. #crossroads #callmecrazy
I saw it. An online listing. The listing. Prominent Mound setnet site was for sale. Land leases, permits, cabins, skiffs, gear. The whole’king salmon. (That’s a saying, right?) I was awestruck. Goosebumps. One picture in particular. A beautiful sunset sky, photographed from the porch of the main cabin, looking northeast across the Shelikof Strait toward the faint outline of mainland Alaska on the horizon. The slate stones that formed a path from the porch to the stairs down to the coast; I helped arrange and place those stones nearly 20 years ago. #isthisreallife #blastfromthepast #shelikofstrait #stoneremembers
The Inciting Incident. A friend shared some pictures from the Alaskan cruise he was on with his fiancé.(Hi Sam & Rosie! Thanks for the pics!!) Those images reignited my superficially-dormant nostalgia for Kodiak Island. I looked through old photos from summer 2007. Checked out Prominent Mound on Google Earth….the other setnet sites in the area. One web search led to another, until… #alaskacruise #googleearth #feelingnostalgic #littledidheknow
After returning home to the East Coast, life went on in Milford, CT. Job. Girl. Apartment. House. Jobs. Rings. More School. New Jobs. Children. Family. Pandemic. Jobs. D&D. Community. Things were pretty good. Life settled into predictable rhythms. #milford #ct #gameoflife #d&d #switchitup
Summer 2007 spent on Kodiak Island fishing at Prominent Mound Setnet Site was a formative experience. The Place stayed with me. To this day nearly 20 years later, I still sometimes visit in my dreams. #summer2007 #kodiak #alaska #setnet #onlyindreams
In the Summer of 2007, immediately after graduation from Hartford Art School @ UHA, I worked as a crew member at a remote Salmon Setnet site located on Kodiak Island, Alaska.
The Prominent Start Project is a 31-part series that collects my observations on the relationships between People and Place.
The project is being posted as a one-a-day series on Instagram during the month of August 2026.
Follow along on Instagram: @ProminentPlaceApproach
The Prominent Start posts will be supported by this website. Posts will be archived, expanded upon, and additional resources provide. There is even the opportunity for people to comment.
