McCarthy lies 61 miles east of Chitina off the Edgerton Highway, on the Kennicott River at the mouth of McCarthy Creek. The town is surrounded by the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve which was established in 1980. The area has about 35 year-round residents with more arriving for the summer tourist season. McCarthy is privately owned.
Kennecott mine (note the different spelling) was the richest copper mine in the world until its closure in 1938. It processed almost 600.000 tons of copper ore and employed some 800 workers in its heyday. Kennicott was a self-contained company town, complete with a hospital, general store, schoolhouse, baseball field, skating rink, tennis court, recreation hall and dairy.