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A subtle charmer of the Oregon Coast, Yachats is the summer getaway for a serene experience.
Dive Into Yachats The charming gem of the Oregon Coast written by James Sinks
THESE DAYS, the easygoing coastal hamlet of Yachats is so idyllic that it’s called the gem of the Oregon Coast, with its rugged and tidepool-strewn shoreline, networks of trails, and inviting cluster of eateries and shops. Located between Waldport and Florence, you won’t find a gas station here, but you’ll discover art galleries, a boutique brewery and uncrowded driftwood-decorated beaches. There’s fresh seafood on-shore and, often, whales off-shore. There’s even a tiny “whale park” with a whale tail sculpture and a gentle water spout every ninety seconds, as if there is a friendly whale hiding beneath the grass to surprise the kids. The town was once listed as one of the top ten worldwide vacation destinations—alongside Paris, Bali and Kenya—by the author of Frommer’s travel guide. “The ideal spot for a stop in the course of a motoring trip along the breathtaking (and largely undeveloped) Oregon coast,” Arthur Frommer wrote in 2015. Yet Yachats hasn’t always been so charming. Some 35 million years ago, it was violent and dangerous in a geologic way, with eruptions sending lava exploding into the sea. And in the 1800s, it was a harsh place for the indigenous Alsea people that long called the region home. (The term 94 1859 OREGON’S MAGAZINE
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Yachatc in the native language means “where the trail leaves the beach.”) After white settlers arrived, smallpox decimated local tribes and the land was carved up for homesteads. Survivors from other coastal tribes were forcibly marched to Yachats by the Army and then, after starting farms, they were relocated again—and many of them didn’t survive that. Today, Yachats pays homage for that terrible treatment with an annual Peace Hike and a statue along Amanda’s Trail, named in honor of an elderly Coos woman who was marched barefoot and tracked her blood across the sharp rocks in the 1860s. The memorial trail ascends to the top of 800-foot-high Cape Perpetua, a dormant volcano that watches over town like a forest-shrouded sentinel, just two miles away. The name of headland—the highest spot on the Oregon Coast that you can reach by car—comes from seafaring explorer Capt. James Cook, who spotted it on March 7, 1778, on the Feast of Saint Perpetua. The perch over the Pacific served as a military lookout during World War II, and now is the centerpiece of a recreation site that lets visitors marvel at old-growth spruce and awe-inspiring basalt beach formations.
