Today we woke to overcast skies again. The nighttime temps continue to drop into the low 50’s and not too much better during the day. The winds on the coast never stop so forget about a good hair day. LOL!
Today we finished our final day of touring on the Oregon coast. We have been traveling the coastline for 13 days and we’ve pretty much saturated the area so time to move on.
Our first stop this morning was a tour of the Coquille River Lighthouse. It is # 7 on our lighthouse tour. The lighthouses here are much smaller in height then the lighthouses on the East coast because they are built on the high cliffs of the Oregon coast so they usually are no higher then 60 feet tall and most below 40 feet tall.
The Coquille Light is no longer used and is in disrepair.
After visiting this light we ventured up the road 25 miles to visit the Cape Blanco Lighthouse – the oldest standing lighthouse on the Oregon coast 245 feet above the ocean. It was commissioned in 1870 to aid shipping generated by the gold mining and lumber industry.
Cape Blanco was # 9 on our lighthouse tour. We had to decide if we were going to travel 25 miles in the opposite direction to take in the Arago Lighthouse (#8) or forego it and just do Cape Blanco. We opted for Cape Blanco because Arago was not open to the public and there was no good viewpoint to actually see it.
Once again the wind on the cliffs was ferocious and it was very difficult to walk against the wind.
We were able to climb to the top and stand in the area with the Fresnel Lens – so got a really close-up look at it.
After leaving the lighthouse we stopped to tour an old Victorian Home built in 1898 for a pioneer dairy farmer, the Hughes House an ornate two story , 11 room ranch. The 3,000 square foot home is constructed of old growth Port Orford Cedar at a cost of $3000.00. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was quite beautiful and had very advanced amenities for its’ time.
One again we found a Boston connection. The Hughes couple immigrated to the US from Ireland resided in Boston then moved out West. After farming for thirty-five years and raising nine children they built this huge home to retire in. Unfortunately, Mr. Hughes died 2 years later in an accident. Mrs. Hughes lived to be 93 years old.
Of interest is that their son James became a lighthouse keeper and their son John was the second Oregonian to become a priest. When the house was built they actually put a chapel in so their son could say mass.
Next we stopped at the Ocean Waves Art Studio. The artist there has taken the trash picked up on the beaches and turned it into art. Very interesting concept and a good use of trash to treasure. I had mentioned her art work in the previous post.
The people in the art studio were very friendly and once again we ran into another Massachusetts transplant from Lakeville. It is a very small world.
Then we headed back down the coast to check out the Devils’ Kitchen, Sea Stacks and Face Rock.
Devils Kitchen was amazing and some of the rocks looked like lungs. LOL – only a nurse would think that.
After spending the day touring we decided to have dinner at the local Mexican Restaurant. It was quite good and filling as well.
Across from the restaurant was a carving of a fish. Quite impressive. The area is big on fishing.
We put in a long but fruitful day and truly enjoyed the tremendous ocean views, lighthouses and even the wind and cool temperatures. We move on to California tomorrow for more adventures.
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