The beauty of the Homer landscape hits you as get to the crest of the hill leading down into town. The Homer Spit juts four miles out into the water and, on a clear day, the active volcano Mount Augustine is visible in the distance. A woman plays fetch with her dog on Bishop's Beach near the Homer Spit on a beautiful sunny day. The city of Homer is located 80 miles south of Soldotna, on the shores of Kachemak Bay. It is home for about 4,000 year-round residents, and 8,000 more outside the city limits.
Many residents are commercial fishermen or sportfishing guides during the summer months.
Indians lived in this place hundreds of years ago, mostly on the southern shores of Kachemak Bay. They gathered what they needed from the waters, shores and hills. The Pratt Museum has several excellent exhibits detailing this history. Seams of coal on the northern shores of Kachemak Bay brought the first whites to Homer. In the mid-1800s, Russians reported the abundance of coal here.