A single stroll through Skagway, Alaska, will make you feel as if you traveled back in time. Nearly everything about the town, from the architecture to the signage to the fascination with gold, seems undisturbed since the days of the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1890s.
However, Skagway isn't exactly "the town that time forgot," as one friend likes to say. The old-fashioned look is very much intentional and is a result of residents taking their history so seriously. In fact, Skagway has a seven-member commission who oversees and regulates the aesthetics of any new construction projects downtown.
The goal is to make Skagway's storefronts as similar to the ones in pictures like this (click to view entire photo):
