Nine miles north of Port Orford on the southern Oregon Coast, Cape Blanco extends out one-and-one-half miles into the sea. Discovered by early Spanish explorers who named it the White Cape due to its chalky, white appearance, Blanco is the most western point in Oregon.

The Cape Blanco Lighthouse which was built in about 1870 has a long history of the struggles and extreme effort it took to build the Oregon Coast lighthouses when there was no road access.  Remember the Sand Highway? Most of the supplies had to be shipped in and at least one ship wrecked losing its cargo trying to get building materials and supplies to the site.

An entire forest was felled in order to provide clear space to build this particular lighthouse. Because of its extension out from the land coast, Blanco was an ideal place to position this kind of aide to mariners and still is. The felling of the forest provided timber to build, the plus of mitigating the possibility of forest fire threatening the structure and cut down on the amount of fog in the area.

Many of the bricks used to build the lighthouse were made on site to save the cost of shipping them in from San Francisco. A hole 5 feet deep was dug to provide for a 4 foot concrete foundation for the light house. A duplex was built to house the main lighthouse keeper on one side and his two assistant keepers on the other side.

This lighthouse had two main purposes. One was to warn ships away from the reefs that protruded out from the cape. The second was to give a fixed position for navigation. The modern day lighthouse continues to serve both purposes as do most of the Oregon lighthouses. The housing is gone but the lighthouse is well cared for and functional.

We have visited Cape Blanco Lighthouse twice so far on day trips from Umpqua River Haven. From the coast Highway 101 it is about a 14 mile drive out to the lighthouse. A very scenic and worthwhile jaunt passing the historic Hughes House and Ranch on the way opening up to your first view of the lighthouse.

The views north and south of the lighthouse display the rugged coastline.

On one of our family visits the Fresnel Lens had been vandalized by local teens from Port Orford. The process of restoring the glass is a lengthy and complicated one but was in the works. My young grandchildren could not understand why anyone would want to harm this beautiful lighthouse.

Tours of the Cape Blanco Lighthouse are scheduled so be sure to check for a current schedule before driving out to see it. Cost is $2.00 for 16 and up and free under 15. 

Tour schedule:  April – October 31, Wed – Monday 10 am – 3:30 pm. Last tour ticket sold at 3:15 pm. Gates close at 3:30 pm. Closed Tuesdays. You will climb up to view the lens and coast vistas from the elevated vantage point. Our next blog will be about the Historic Hughes House which you will want to tour also so plan to spend much of the day here. There is also an historic family cemetery of interest.

Beach glass has become a prime commodity as opposed to the ouchy nuisance it use to be. Collectors comb beaches at the ocean and lakes. The oceans produce Sea Glass as opposed to Beach Glass that can be found on lake shores.

The sources of the glass are anything made of glass that has been broken and found its way to the sea. It takes anywhere from 20 to 50 years for Sea Glass to acquire shape, color and a frosted effect from being rolled and tumbled in the oceans and worn down to a much sought after appearance. We find Sea Glass on the Oregon Coast near Umpqua River Haven often but it does take some serious looking as the pieces are generally small and easy to overlook.

But today we want to visit about Beach Glass found on the shores of Lake Erie. At one time anything that wasn’t wanted was tossed into the lake or the rivers feeding the lake. Major pollution plagued Lake Erie and others of the Great Lakes. Finally in the 70s the burning Cuyahoga River and “dead” Lake Erie prompted the federal government to pass the Clean Air Act that started to reverse the severe lake pollution.

Because Beach Glass is formed in fresh water instead of salt water, it has a different PH from Sea Glass and a somewhat less frosted appearance. Like Sea Glass, the edges are all rounded off from being tossed and tumbled by the lake waves over many years time.

There are many colors of Sea and Beach glass but the most common are white, green and brown. In our jewelry piece here there is a small blue piece of Beach Glass affixed to the larger, white piece.

This necklace is a gift for one of our friends at Umpqua River Haven and will be unique in the Oregon Coast area in that it didn’t come from the ocean. The jewelry maker’s hubby said that Beach Glass isn’t as plentiful as it once was on the shores of Lake Erie and he does a lot of walking to continue finding pieces for his wife to make jewelry with. She makes some very pretty things anyone would enjoy wearing and it’s all unique and original. No two pieces are alike. We think it’s a real find!

Florence is a unique small town on the Oregon Coast. A popular retirement destination, Florence also boasts good schools from kindergarten through college.

Lane Community College is based in Eugene but has an extension in Florence where you can take classes of all kinds heading toward a college degree. LCC in Florence is also the home of a dance studio that offers classes to adults and children in ballet, tap, jazz, Middle Eastern dance, yoga, Tai Chi and International Dance with the Oregon Coast International Dancers.

The Doreen Ditzhazy Dance Studio was established by retired Eugene Ballet Director and Dancer, Doreen Ditzhazy. Mrs. Ditzhazy has passed but her legacy lives on and her hubby, Fred, still teaches ballroom dance at LCC. Dancers perform throughout the year for various venues and there is a dance concert each June. In the fall there is a Middle Eastern Dance event lead by Angela Palmer who also teaches ballet.

Florence offers a variety of cultural activities and is home to the Oregon Coast Chamber Orchestra.

The Coast Chamber Ensemble is based in Coast Village and gives 2 seasonal concerts during the year at various places within the Florence Community.

The Florence Events Center is a very active place hosting a variety of events throughout this large facility. An art gallery displaying work of local artists is usually open in one area. The annual Rhody Days weekend and the Folk Arts Festival are hosted in another area. The very beautiful auditorium hosts local dance concerts, plays, the Holly Jolly Follies charity event and Seacoast Entertainment Association’s seven quality concerts throughout the year. These are just a sample of what goes on during the year and you can find the schedule here on their website: http://www.eventcenter.org/

Access SEA: http://www.seacoastea.org/ for upcoming concerts   Holly Jolly Follies: http://www.hollyjollyfollies.com/

Florence has an active theater group, The Last Resort Players, that offers 3 productions per year at FEC. Musical accompaniment is provided by local musicians. You can catch what they are up to currently here: http://lastresortplayers.org/

Located in “Old Town” Florence, the Florence Playhouse is a smaller, more intimate venue for theater, dance and music productions. This premier little theater is housed in one of Old Town’s historic buildings and is adaptable to audience or dinner theater performances. Youth Theater and Marketing Director, Melanie Heard, has created C.R.O.W. which stands for Children’s Repertory Oregon Workshops that works with youth from the local community in theater and dance. Check them out here: http://www.florenceplayhouse.com/

Florence has a variety of arts organizations, art galleries, photography club, art walks and the Oregon Coast Military Museum. One of our favorites is the Backstreet Gallery located in Old Town on Bay St. The artists man the gallery themselves and sponsor gallery events including a monthly “After Hours” opening where they serve wine and cheese and have quality local musicians performing. Check out their calendar and learn more: http://backstreetgallery.org/

I’ve probably missed some things but you can see that there is a lot going on in Florence, Oregon. And don’t forget our earlier blog about the Dunes and beautiful beaches. There are several motels here including one on the ocean with a very nice restaurant: http://www.driftwoodshores.com/  And there is nearly an endless variety of restaurants in this small town. Very popular is Mo’s on the river in Old Town: http://www.moschowder.com/florence.php  You can often see sea lions swimming by while feasting on great seafood.

We can’t leave Florence without mentioning the fishing both recreational and commercial. The Siuslaw River is a popular place for salmon fishing and you will see boats dotting the river during the salmon seasons. Tuna is available during tuna season directly from the commercial fishing boats on the docks. There’s nothing better than fresh-caught tuna steaks—yum!

The Oregon Coast Beaches often go on for miles. Remember a 45 minute hike to The Bella? And the beach stretched well beyond those 45 minutes. They are vast, seemingly endless and belong to the people of Oregon.

Everyone wants to live on water wherever that water happens to be. And on the North Coast of Oregon there are a lot of houses, hotels and rentals. But there is always a big stretch of sand between any buildings and the ocean and that kind of development mostly doesn’t exist on the Central and Southern Coastlines of Oregon. Wonder why?

“The shore of the Pacific Ocean, between ordinary high tied and extreme low tide, and from the Columbia River on the north to the Oregon and California State line on the south, is hereby declared a public highway and shall forever remain open as such to the public.”

Highway? This is wording from the bill signed into law by Gov. Oswald West in February of 1913. It was a remarkable achievement and attained by the persuasion that there was no cost to create or maintain this highway. The Oregon Legislature went for it. This noteworthy legislation preserved the Oregon Coast forever. 

At this time and for some time past the Oregon Coast Beaches were utilized as a highway by autos, horses, buggies, buckboards and stagecoaches.

There were long stretches of hard, smooth sand originally utilized by Native Americans for generations before white settlers came to also traverse them between coast villages and communities and lighthouses.

Late in the 19^th Century freight and passenger stage lines both traveled the sand highway. Stagecoaches were crude and were actually wagons with wider wheels that better negotiated over sand. They had roll-down curtains that helped protect passengers from rain, ocean spray and blowing sand.

The stagecoach year around operations were totally dependent on the timing of the tide. Getting caught in high tide could be tragic. The journey was a pleasant one depending on the weather. Plus there could be hidden dangers in the way of sneaker waves, quicksand, driftwood, buried logs and roots. Even being familiar with the sand route did not guarantee a hazard-free trip.

As autos entered the picture, their trips could be even more precarious because they were heavy and prone to sinking into the sand. They could move passengers and freight more quickly but often had to be aided out of their sand-stuck circumstances by teams of horses. They were, and still are, subject to the salt air effects on metal which could be devastating.

Several rivers and streams empty into the ocean and created yet another obstacle for the beach highway traveler. There were many styles of ferries to assist in crossing rivers and streams, the sternwheeler among them.

The Oregon Coast is quite rugged in places and the Northwest Pacific Ocean is cold and treacherous. There have been many shipwrecks and they were often a sight-seeing destination as was the Mimi Disaster in 1913. An adventure on the sand highway!

The Oregon Coast isn’t all smooth sailing sand and there are many places along the coast that are just steep, sheer rock drops into the water or at least very rocky outcroppings between sandy beaches.

How, then, did the beach highway travelers overcome these impediments? The most famous of these obstacles was Hug Point Road from Cannon Beach south to Arch Cape. Nothing but sheer rock was available to travel along the highway and travel they did over this blasted and chipped out route.

Waves would pour over the road especially at high tide and this road was best traveled at low tide. Today Hug Point Road is a tourist attraction destination showing signs of 100 years of ocean wave erosion. But, again, be careful to know the tide times as you can become stuck for hours during high tide waiting for the low tide.

Gov. West’s accomplished preservation of the Oregon Coast Beaches stands the Oregon people in good stead today. Access for the public to the entire coast is mandatory and has been created in built up areas along the north coast. The Central Coast near us at Umpqua River Haven and the Southern Coastal areas are more easily accessible and still well traveled. Traveled by hikers, swimmers, surfers, families, horseback riders, and, remember the Dunes? In the good weather you will find plenty of ATVs out for a run along the shore in designated areas.

I’ve even seen jeeps driving the Oregon Coast Beach Highway and vehicles that shouldn’t have been there. I went hiking on a mostly deserted stretch of beach one afternoon and came across a small station wagon that had attempted to drive to the beach from the parking lot. Unfortunately for him the sand was soft and deep and he was stuck waiting for assistance. I offered him a ride but he declined. He never made it to the beach.

I did have one brief driving-on-the-beach adventure one day when a friend decided to take his pickup out onto the sand nearly to the water, around in a circle and back to more solid ground. Kind of a swing out onto and around the beach.

Well….sort of. Today we’re jiggin’ for bait in Windy Bay.  Winchester Bay, Oregon along Coast Highway 101 has a high, long, public crabbing dock. The dock is utilized by many for catching the prized Dungeness crabs of the Pacific Northwest. Dungeness are very expensive to purchase and on any given day during the season many locals and visitors can be seen dropping their crab pots into the bay from atop this high off the water dock catching a truly scrumptious dinner.

Another popular use for the dock is jigging for bait. While it appears easy to do there are tricks and techniques for obtaining your own bait but the basic technique is called jigging. There are varieties of hooks, lines and poles that can be used but they all depend on the jigging.

Early in my residence at Umpqua River Haven I was visiting the bay and walked out on the pier noticing a gent sitting on the pier manipulating some kind of line I’d never seen before. I stopped to ask about it and this retired fella from Alaska explained jigging to me. His line was hand-held instead of being on a pole and he explained that it had several hooks up and down the line. As he jigged it with his hand making a constant motion with the line, small sardines would bite at the moving hooks and become lodged on them. Periodically he would pull up the line to harvest the small fish.

Often very shinny little fish would be interspersed among the sardines and I was educated that these are baby salmon and illegal to catch. He would carefully remove them from the hook and toss them back into the bay hopefully to grow up to make someone a delicious meal. When my family came to visit for the first time I was able to minimally explain jigging to those that like to fish and crab so they were able to catch their own bait.

The retiree from Alaska and I visited for quite awhile and he mentioned that his daughter had an espresso stand in Reedsport in the Safeway parking lot. My family is big into designer coffee and we tried this stand. Delicious. We’re not certain she is still there but if you see this small heart-starter wagon near the Safeway or elsewhere, we recommend this latte stop to anyone visiting here.

Extending out from alongside the land entrance to the dock is a nice swimming beach and grassy picnic area. In better weather, families come here to cool off and enjoy a picnic style meal together. The family has done both and highly recommend the sandy beach in this protected bay cove.

At Umpqua River Haven we hear tales about the pirates of old such as Iron Jim Sallow and very early explorers like Sir Frances Drake who plundered in the Pacific Northwest just like any real pirate. Remember the tall ships from a previous blog? Drake’s Golden Hind was here.

 But! Pirates on Lake Erie???? Yes!!!!

The Maritime Museum of Sandusky, Ohio offers up all the great history of Lake Erie from the 1600s missionaries to the 1795 French and Indian War to the War of 1812 and Perry’s Battle of Lake Erie to harvesting winter ice to commercial fishing to freighting timber to piracy. Piracy? Yep. And there was lots of it on the Great Lakes.

The French and British Governments both hired pirates or privateers on the Great Lakes during the French and Indian War.  The British pirates led by George Colby attacked from shore in small boats. They would build fires at night on the shore of Lake Erie to lead the French to think they were near a port causing them to run aground on the rocks. Colby and crew would then destroy both ship and cargo which helped the British defeat the French.

William Johnson pirated during the War of 1812. He did not like the British and worked with the Americans. He moved to the US side of Lake Ontario and was paid, along with a band of assistants, to take British property. After capturing a small fleet of British boats, they discovered a letter from one British official to another with information that was helpful to the American’s war efforts.

Great Lakes pirate vessels looked like any Great Lakes Schooner or Sloop, too.

In the late 1840’s James Jesse Strang led a group of Mormons living on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. He would take them on raiding voyages to the mainland towns when he knew the men would be gone leaving the families unprotected. Boats that ran aground on the island in bad weather were usually pillaged by Strang and his Mormon crew. The island lobbied for a lighthouse and got one. But after it was built they would light decoy fires on shore causing ships to wreck so they could plunder some more.

Off the Canadian Shores of Lake Erie on the Long Point Peninsula pirates would copy the pattern of lights from a neighborhood lighthouse luring ships to crash at the end of the peninsula. Then the pirates would take the ship’s cargo. Because the area was so remote, by the time help arrived the pirates would be long gone. This practice was known as ‘Blackbirding’ and was prevalent throughout the 19^th century.

Roaring Dan Seavey was a true pirate who operated mostly on Lake Michigan in the early 1900’s. He smuggled, poached, bootlegged alcohol and ran a floating bordello called the ‘Wanderer.’ On June 11, 1908, Roaring Dan and two comrades seized the ‘Nellie Johnson’ after getting the captain and crew drunk. Pirate and crew headed to Chicago to sell the stolen cargo. Eventually Seavy was arrested and tried for mutiny and sedition but the grand jury failed to indict him. Seavey died in 1948 in a nursing home.

A variety of methods to pirate timber during the 19^th century were practiced on the Great Lakes. Timber pirates diverted floating river logs and made them their own. They would also cut large acreages of forest from unpopulated lands and from federal lands and load them on their ships to sell in the big cities. There was so much timber pirating going on during the 1850’s that the US government passed laws to protect forests for the Navy to build ships with.  And, the U.S.S. Michigan was tasked to put an end to timber piracy.

During the 19^th century American fish companies trespassed into Canadian waters and also into US federally protected waters to obtain better catches. Prices were high at the turn of the century and the fish wars heated up on Lake Erie. The problem of fish piracy resolved itself when the fish population crashed and it was no longer lucrative enough to continue.

Some tools of the trade, including the cat-o-nine-tails.

The life style of a pirate was not without consequences. If caught, pirates were executed. Before sentencing would be carried out, the condemned pirate would be measured for his ‘gibbet.’ A gibbet was a wooden frame the body of an executed pirate would be hung from so that his family could not remove it. The gibbet was often more feared than the execution and served as a warning to other pirates as to the consequences of their illegal activities.

Visit: http://www.sanduskymaritime.org/ for more information.

Belay that, me hearties!

When was the last time you rode a Merry-Go-Round? Or even saw one? Heard the peppy music of its Calliope?

Like most of us, if you ever did ride one it was probably many years ago when you were a child. Surprise! If you are in the Sandusky, Ohio area you can ride a real, full sized Merry-Go-Round to the music of its Wurlitzer Calliope or Band Organ.

 A visit to the Merry-Go-Round Museum in the heart of Sandusky requires a small entrance fee and includes a full ride on the in house Merry-Go-Round, music and all, on the beautifully restored, carved animal of your choice. And there are so many to choose from! From horses to sea monsters.

Don’t miss the guided tour. Our tour guide was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the animals, carvers and history of everything. Occasionally as we toured even she was surprised by a new discovery like this camel that is being restored.

The museum has been endowed with outright gifts of animals, mostly horses but many other animals, too, in various stages of repair from excellent to very poor. Currently on permanent loan is the collection of the late Charlotte Dinger which includes some really beautiful horses.

 We learned about the three styles of horses which are Coney Island, Philadelphia and Country Fair. Coney Island style is the flashiest with glitz, gold mane and jewels. But only on the “Romance” side. Then there are “outside row” animals that tend to be the largest and fanciest and even better carved.

We also learned about the various carvers and carving companies along with the history of carousel invention. The precursor to the modern Merry-Go-Round is traced back to 544 A.D. or was it B.C? It’s difficult to remember everything. The oldest figure in the museum is this restored elephant dated 1890.

There were many different animals as the following photos reveal.

There were several deer and elk. They looked like reindeer to us and I was expecting to see Santa nearby. We did learn that the two on the left spent last Christmas in the White House as part of the holiday celebration there.

We learned a great deal about the detailed process of the restoration of these beautiful carvings including dowel fittings, painting, the period of metal legs that are now restored with wood and much more. It takes great dedication to restore these creations as beautifully as this donkey has been done.

At one time there was a carousel that existed with only cows to ride on. Two of those cows are in the museum along with a bucking bronc from Mexico.

Every year the museum sells raffle ticket for a particular Merry-Go-Round horse and the winner is awarded the horse. Last year’s winner never picked up their prize that is still waiting for them all dressed for Halloween. Perhaps they decided to make it an unofficial donation.

There are tales of haunting within the museum so be sure to ask about them. You can ride in a chariot,  on a horse, a sea monster, a zebra or any variety of animals but don’t miss out on the great fun riding this artistic Merry-Go-Round!

Visit for location, dates and times: http://www.merrygoroundmuseum.org/

Heceta Head Lighthouse is reportedly the most photographed lighthouse in the United States. Viewed from the Sea Lion Caves 11 miles north of Florence, Oregon, it is framed by the cave ‘window’. Or, most often photographed from outside the cave building entrance.

In 1755 Don Bruno Heceta, a Spanish sailor, discovered this beautiful location and the lighthouse was named after him. Construction on the lighthouse began in 1892 and took 5 years to complete although the light was lit in March of 1894. The original structure had living quarters attached for 2 assistant light keepers.

Heceta House was a single structure of living quarters for the head light keeper and his family. While the lighthouse isn’t said to be haunted the same cannot be said for Heceta House.  There is an infant’s grave on the property and the very active ghost is thought to be the child’s mother watching over it. Named Rue, the ghost often appears as a smoky grey mist and is nick-named the “Grey Lady.”

Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, Heceta House is also listed as one of the ten most haunted places in the US due to the very active “Grey Lady.” Heceta House is a popular bed and breakfast and not one visitor goes away disappointed because they did not witness some ghostly activity from being peered down at out of the attic window to items being moved to fire alarms going off to footsteps overhead.

There is one story of a worker up in the attic who was surprised by Rue and it frightened him so he ran down the attic stairs, down the second story stairs and out the front door and refused to go into the attic again. While working on the outside of the house this same worker accidentally broke the attic window. Because he would not go into the attic, he repaired the window from the outside and left the broken glass scattered across the floor inside. That night other volunteer workers heard scraping noises coming from the attic. When they went to investigate the next morning they found a neat pile of glass on the floor in front of the window. Be sure and reserve your night at this famously haunted B&B well in advance so you don’t miss your chance to experience the “Grey Lady.” Oh, and you’ll want to climb the tour to the top of the lighthouse, too!!

Heceta Head is a working lighthouse as a navigational aid to mariners but is also a major tourist destination on the Oregon Coast. It is part of a 549 acre park with trails, view points, tide pooling, a sandy beach and more. Plan to spend some time here especially if you are traveling with children. There is so much to do. We recommend both Driftwood Shores in Florence right on the ocean: http://www.driftwoodshores.com/ which includes the Surfside Restaurant: http://www.driftwoodshores.com/restaurant-lounge.html and the Comfort Inn on highway 101: http://www.florenceci.com/ and eat at Mo’s on the Siuslaw River: http://www.moschowder.com/florence.php Or bring your RV to Umpqua River Haven and stay with us. We are just about an easy hours’ drive from this lighthouse.

As with all the lighthouses, the night views can be spectacular. This one was caught on a cloudy night but still shows how bright the light is that guides the ships in.