Southern Oregon Coast: Bandon
Our final three nights of the trip were in Bandon where we stayed at the Bandon Inn with adjoining rooms and balconies, perched on a bluff that looks out over the Old Town area, the boardwalk and Port of Bandon, and the Coquille River. It was a great place to unwind.
There is a decent amount of coastal-flavored tourist shopping available in Bandon. If you’re at all familiar with shopping styles in the more northerly Oregon coast beach towns, that’s what I mean. There are also a lot of cranberry related goods because Bandon has rich cranberry industry history. Be sure to also make a stop at the Face Rock Creamery for cheese and/or ice cream. You can also get your fill of seafood at a different restaurant or cafe or “shack” every day you’re there.
Public dock on the Coquille River at the Port of Bandon. The Coquille River Lighthouse visible in the far distant middle. The Chetco Bar Fire smoke persisted even this far north of Brookings, though air quality at ground level was much better than we’d seen in days.
Bandon, like much of the Oregon coast, is in a Tsunami Evacuation Zone. This sign was right outside the restaurant we had dinner at the second night.
You know when you eat somewhere and a combination of factors makes you think it is the best meal you’ve ever had: location and/or view, the food itself, its freshness and preparation, perhaps the company you are with, the exhaustion of the day you’ve just had with a satisfying stuffed tummy at the end—well, that’s what this was. The view of the mouth of the Coquille River and the Coquille River Lighthouse at Bullards Beach State Park from Edgewaters restaurant makes any meal the best you’ve ever had, for at least a few hours.
Bandon, and particularly Old Town Bandon, has seen tragedy. In 1936 a nearby wildfire sparked quickly by offshore winds bringing embers into town and accelerated by a non-native plant called ‘gorse’ that seems to be made out of oil itself. The plant grew thickly on coastal bluffs and between buildings, and contributed to the near destruction of the downtown business district and docks. Gorse was an introduction by an Irish town settler, it still grows there today. Contrast this behavior by an invasive non-native plant to the Coyote Bush described in the Port Orford post and you can understand the benefit of planting native plants to combat ecological threats.
Washed Ashore Gallery & Workshop
The Washed Ashore Gallery & Workshop is an organization with a mission to educate the globe about plastic pollution through building and exhibiting art installations and sculptures out of plastic material found in the ocean and other waterways. They provide education outreach via traveling exhibits and volunteer workshops. I took far too many pictures there—here are a few of my favorites.
The Surname Connection
While at the Hughes House, we were chatting with the docent about the area, about 25 miles south of Bandon, and somehow the subject of my last name (surname) came up. I was flabbergasted to find that there were Sturdivants with the same spelling as mine going back at least a hundred years in this part of Oregon. She recommended we talk with folks at the Bandon Historical Society or Coos County Historical Society in Coos Bay, and mentioned a park in Coquille called Sturdivant Park after a Penny Sturdivant. To this day, this is all I know. We ran out of time to go to any of the historical societies and life has taken the time since. Maybe someday I’ll pick at the thread again. At least we drove up the Coquille River Valley to Coquille and went to the park.
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