Lawing

(Alaska)

Alaska Nellie's Homestead, located at Mile 23 of the Seward Highway in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, is the former homestead of Nellie Neal Lawing. Neal Lawing had migrated to Alaska in 1915 and ran a number of roadhouses for the Alaska Railroad before settling at the Roosevelt roadhouse on Kenai Lake in 1923, where she built her homestead. She planned to marry Kenneth Holden after settling, but he died in an industrial accident before their marriage; his cousin Billie Lawing then proposed to her, and the two married. A post office opened in the area in 1924; Nellie was the first postmistress, and the post office was named Lawing in her honor.