Oysterville, Washington
2013.09.09
From Westport, we continued down WA-105 along the coast and then along Willapa Bay. It is the second-largest west coast estuary with over 260 square miles of water, largely protected by the aptly named Long Beach Peninsula. A few fishing towns are scattered around the bay and it provides nearly 10% of the domestic oyster harvest, but much of the bay area is within the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge.
We paused on the north shore for a quick lunch.
At Raymond, Washington, we rejoined US-101 and continued down the inside of Willapa Bay, around the southern tip, and on to Long Beach Peninsula. About fifteen miles up the peninsula, on the bay side, is the tiny community of Oysterville, a National Historic District.
The first settlers, Isaac Clark and Robert Espy, arrived in 1854. Chief Nahcati of the Chinook pointed them towards rich oyster beds. Clark and Espy sold the oysters for $1 a basket to schooners bound for San Francisco. There, the tiny oysters sold for more than $40 a plate. Five hundred settlers arrived within months, and Oysterville became the county seat of Pacific County, Washington Territory. There was a school, two hotels, a weekly paper, and (at length) a church and a college. For a town swimming in gold coins from the oyster trade, it is surprising that no one ever established a bank. Residents hid coins under mattresses or buried in tin cans.
Around 1880, the long-anticipated railroad stopped at Nahcotta, four miles south. Meanwhile, the native oysters had become scarce from overharvesting, and many people left. The county seat was moved to South Bend in 1893, and Oysterville drifted into relative obscurity. Time and the elements took their toll, and most of the town has vanished. What now appears to be the main road was originally Fourth Street, while Front Street (if anything remains) is out in the tidelands.
We drove back down the peninsula and crossed the long bridge over the Columbia River to Astoria, Oregon. The skies had been gray and gloomy all the way down the coast from Ocean Shores to Oysterville, but just 30 miles further south, it was sunny in Astoria.
After a brief stop, we took US-30 back to Portland and the end of our journey.
Grays Harbor Light