OYSTERVILLE
T
he fictional Shangri-La is an idyllic
mountain valley where life is frozen in
time and protected from the rough
changes occurring elsewhere in the
world. Real-life Oysterville may not be
so lucky as to completely escape the
ravages of time and politics, but
strolling around it will restore your faith that a
kind of immortal grace is possible.
The 80-acre Oysterville National Historic
District and the areas immediately adjacent to it
are the heart of Oysterville. With Willapa Bay as
its backdrop, the historic district feels like a movie
back lot version of a 19th century coastal
community. In fact, some structures actually are
from the 19th century. Eight houses, a church, the
Oysterville cannery and a one-room schoolhouse
are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Though Oysterville is a ghost town, it has life.
Oysterville’s post office is the oldest continuously
operating post office in Washington state. The
Oysterville Store sells groceries, souvenirs and
gifts and is open year round. Oysterville Sea
Farms sells seafood from its farms.
The Oysterville Church is open every day of
the year. The Oysterville cannery and all eight of
the houses listed on the National Register of
Historic Places create almost constant activity as
they are maintained and repaired by their private
owners. Similar efforts are made by nonprofit
organizations to maintain and repair the church
and one-room schoolhouse.
The Oysterville Church Summer Vespers are
presented at 3 p.m. every Sunday from Father’s
Day through Labor Day. The services are open
to everyone. The Water Music Festival’s most
popular concerts are the Oysterville church
concerts, held in late October.
THE PENINSULA’S LOVELY
HISTORIC DISTRICT
Old for a West Coast town, Oysterville is
brand new in geographic terms. Oysterville could
be the only place in the United States that has
always had human occupants. Native American
people probably settled Oysterville as soon as it
was created. Chinook peoples came to the area
that is Oysterville at seasonal intervals for untold
centuries to harvest its bountiful oyster beds.
Oysterville was first settled in 1841 by John
Douglas, who married a local Chinook woman.
It was the California Gold Rush of 1849 that
drew significant numbers of settlers of European
descent to Oysterville. Gold miners loved to
spend their gold on Willapa Bay oysters. Settlers
and Chinook Peoples gladly filled schooners
with oysters to be shipped to San Francisco. By
1854, a community of several hundred, called
Oyster Beach, existed here. On April 12, 1854,
I.A. Clark filed a 161-acre land claim that
encompassed all of what is now the Oysterville
National Historic District. It was on Aug. 5,
1854, that community leaders decided that
Oysterville was a better name than Oyster Beach
or Shell Beach to represent their town, which
grew to a population was about 800.
Like all extraction businesses, the native
oyster business came to an end. Hotels, saloons
and a college all disappeared as people left.
Eventually, even the county seat was removed
to South Bend on the east side of the bay.
Oysterville exists primarily as a state of
mind. A walk through Oysterville can reveal the
supremacy of nature; evoking connections to
generations goneby, while subtly forecasting the
folly of generations present and future. Visitors
often find themselves seeking sanctuary in the
peace and insight they discovered here, long
after they have left Oysterville.
Oysterville's historic church host Christmas carolers and a popular series of summer concerts and vespers services.
It also is one of the Long Beach Peninsula's many famous wedding venues. — SYDNEY STEVENS PHOTO
WITH WILLAPA BAY AS ITS BACKDROP, THE OYSTERVILLE
HISTORIC DISTRICT FEELS LIKE A MOVIE BACK LOT VERSION
OF A 19TH CENTURY COASTAL COMMUNITY
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EST. 1962
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