Saint Peter's Church is on the National Historical Register. 
On June 12, 1904, Daniel H. Sleem, a physician, offered his home
for the first Episcopal services in the newly established town of Seward.

In 1925, Jan Van Empel, a noted Dutch artist living in Seward, was commissioned to paint a reredos. The $650 cost was raised by popular subscription. This unique work depicts the Ascension as well as the Resurrection of our Lord.
The empty tomb is shown against the background of Resurrection Bay.

Instead of apostles, the painting includes people of Alaska - Indian, Eskimo, trapper, prospector (a self-portrait of Van Empel), and homesteader, underscoring the Church's teaching to "preach peace to them that are far off and to them that are nigh."
The angels on either side of the Lord are portraits of Van Empel's two sisters.