Thomas Bridges and the Yagán people
Thomas Bridges (1842–1898) came to Tierra del Fuego as a teenager — his adoptive father was a missionary in the Falklands. Over 30 years Bridges learned the Yagán language — the indigenous people of the Beagle Channel — and compiled a 32,000-word dictionary. It's the only complete document of an extinct language.
In 1886 Bridges took Argentine citizenship and retired. The Congress of Argentina granted him land in recognition of 30 years of service and to secure Argentine sovereignty on the Beagle Channel. Bridges named the farm Harberton — after the village in Devon his wife Mary Ann Varder came from.
Lucas Bridges's book
Thomas's son — Esteban Lucas Bridges — wrote Uttermost Part of the Earth (El último confín de la Tierra), published in London in 1948. It's one of the best descriptions of the lives of the Fuegian indigenous people — the Yagán and Selk'nam.
Today Harberton is run by the fifth–sixth generation of the family. Tommy Goodall (b. 1933) and Abby Goodall continue the family work.
The Acatushun Museum
The museum was founded in 2001 by Rae Natalie Prosser de Goodall (1935–2015) — an American biologist from Ohio who married Tommy Goodall. Collection: over 2,885 marine mammal skeletons, 2,554 bird skeletons, herbarium of 7,000+ specimens. The largest collection of marine fauna in the Southern Hemisphere.
How to get there
Harberton — 85 km from Ushuaia. Ruta Nacional 3, then Ruta Complementaria J (RC-J) — a dirt road along the Beagle Channel through lenga forests. By car — an hour and a half.