Weekend fun?
We’ll have ours on the rocks
By Niki Price
Oregon Coast TODAY
[Posted June 16, 2010]
No one would blame you if you stood, squinting your eyes and tilting your head to one side, at the fence overlooking the Seal Rock State Recreation Site. At any low tide, hundreds of craggy basalt formations are aligned in rows and shelves to the north and south. Which one, you might have asked yourself, is Seal Rock?
Welcome to the amusing vagary of place names. This spot on the coast, between Newport and Waldport, was named not for a single rock that resembles a seal, but for the great number of seals that once called this place home. One of its older names is Seal Illahe, which combines the English name for the pinniped with the native Alsi word for “earth” or “place.”
In the mid-19th century, European-American pioneers called it Seal Rocks; somewhere in the 20th, locals took off the “s.” But although the seals no longer gather here, visitors do: especially during Seal Rock Days, held this year on June 19 and 20.
This weekend, the small, unincorporated community (population around 1,000) will be bustling with activity. There will be live music, played in honor of the grand opening of Seal Rock Bakery and Espresso, and a plant sale at the Seal Rock Garden Club. The wide parking lots on Hwy. 101 will feature an outdoor artisan’s fair and woodcarving demonstrations. The merchants of Seal Rock, selling everything from nautical décor and fudge to sushi and blown glass, will be ready and waiting.
A lotta lava
For most folks, the first stop is the Seal Rock State Recreation Site, a free day-use area on the west side of Hwy. 101. It’s undergoing a little construction this summer, but the paths, restrooms and parking lot are still open for business. From the main lot, paved trails meander through shore pine, spruce and salal to arrive at a sturdy overlook with interpretive signs about the area wildlife.
There’s a paved pathway that will take you most of the way to the beach (thanks to erosion, expect a scramble at the end). Another route climbs over a small bluff to the north, with a stunning view of the rock formations in either direction.
It’s all Columbia River basalt, lava that streamed from volcanic vents in eastern Oregon and Washington. It traveled 300 miles down an ancient Columbia River channel south of present-day Mount Hood to be deposited here, at the ever-changing shores of the Pacific, about 16 million years ago.
This porous rock, surrounded by layers of mudstone and sandstone, makes an ideal habitat for inter-tidal life. Low tides expose an amazing array of seaweeds, sea stars, mussels, anemones, sea urchins and limpets (last weekend, with the help of Oregon State Parks interpreter Guy Monroe, we even saw an orange-tinged Sea Clown nudibranch). And, since Seal Rock is an area where shellfish harvesting is legal, if you observe the state regulations you can admire chitons while you’re picking mussels for dinner.
The most prominent landmark here is Elephant Rock, which, unlike the Seal Rocks, actually looks like its namesake. It’s a broad, rounded stack that offers protection for birds like gulls, gannets, brown pelicans and cormorants. Belinda Goody, co-owner of the Caledonia House Bed and Breakfast and webmaster of sealrockor.com, has seen bald eagles around Elephant Rock, too.
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| Guy Monroe, working at the Seal Rock tidepools on Sunday, June 13, 2010. |
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Home to history
These rocks, no matter what they are called, have attracted humans for 8,000 years. Shell middens and other archaeological finds reveal that the Alsi people made seasonal camps here, where they could trap mammals and birds as well as harvest shellfish and berries. Then, the rocks and beaches were breeding grounds for seals and sea lions, and the coastal tribes were known to wear clothes made of seal skin.
Royal A. Bensell, keeper of the famous journals of “All Quiet on the Yamhill: The Civil War in Oregon,” passed through this area in May 1864, from Waldport north toward Seal Rock. “Crossed the Alsea River by swimming. Passed Collins’ Mine by 8:30 a.m. Shortly afterwards we pass Seal Illahee, saw plenty of huge seal barking on the bare rocks. These seal weigh from 1000 to 1200 pounds. The fur is worthless. The Indians kill a great many. The meat is said to be good.”
In 1853 this part of the coast, a chunk of land 90 miles long and 20 miles inland, was designated the first Indian reservation in the new Oregon Territory. Despite the promises, however, the resident Indians were relocated and white settlement began in earnest before a decade was out.
In the 1880s, real estate developers began to believe that the Oregon-Pacific Railroad would soon connect the growing population centers of the Willamette Valley with isolated villages like Seal Rock. The area was platted, a resort hotel was built and, although the railroad never arrived, it became a popular destination. Until the 1930s, when the Roosevelt Highway was finished, visitors came to Seal Rock via ferry and beach driving.
The resort and many of the pioneer buildings are gone, but a few historic structures remain. The Seal Rock Store, at the south end of town, has been there since 1923. The Seal Rock Garden Clubhouse is even older, built in 1920 by the Forest Service. It was part of Camp Angell, which housed conscientious objectors during World War II, and was moved to this location in 1950.
The Rock rocks
Families who traveled here in the 1970s and 80s will remember Sea Gulch, where chain-saw wood sculptor Ray Kowalski displayed his cowboys, Indians, trolls and gnomes in an old West style tourist attraction. The park is closed, although some buildings remain, and the sculptor himself passed away in 2008. His sons, and now grandsons, still practice chain-saw carving at the Woodcarvers Outlet and Gifts.
The area around the former Sea Gulch is something of a studio tour. To the south, there’s the Woodcarving Gallery of Brian McEneny, who has been carving graceful sea creatures and lifelike bears here since the 1970s. To the north is the newer Ocean Beaches Glassblowing Studio and Gallery, which offers the work of Bob Meyer and other artists.
Walking around this highway hamlet, you may think you have a handle on the name confusion. But wait, there’s more. In “Oregon Place Names,” Lewis McArthur says that this town’s name actually refers to the largest outcropping, which means that this venerable Oregon historian thinks that what locals call Elephant Rock could actually be Seal Rock. So squint, cock your head and look a while — what do you see?
Our thanks to Belinda Goody, whose historical research and sealrockor.com made this story possible.
Here are three ways to Seal Rock your week:
• The annual Seal Rock Garden Club Plant Show and Plant Sale — one of the central coast’s favorite sources for acclimated plants and hardy starts — will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 19, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, June 20, at the Seal Rock Garden Club. Admission and refreshments are free. Raffles, prizes and lovely arrangements, with the theme “Garden Symphony.”
• The Seal Rock Espresso & Bakery will host its grand opening from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 19. Free drip coffee, $1 lattes, door prizes and drawings, with live music by CRC starting at noon. For details, call 541-563-6622.
• A series of morning minus tides, ideal for exploring Seal Rock’s tide pools, begin on Wednesday, June 23 (-0.9 feet, 5:18 a.m.). This series will be at its lowest on Saturday, June 25 (-1.4 feet, 7:31 a.m.) before going on a slow rise. Look for Oregon State Parks interpreters on Saturday and Sunday, June 26 and 27.
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