Daniel Knight Warren platted this lovely town at the turn of the 19th century and financed the building of a dike that led to the formation of a commercial and charter fishing village. Warrenton today boasts a population of 3,000, but it is every bit able to support 10,000. Every summer visitors flock to this delightful seacoast town as it serves as gateway to many treasures on the North Coast. Can you believe the picture above was taken on January 24?
Warrenton/Hammond area is home to:
Ft. Stevens Museum - Ft. Stevens Campground- Peter Iredale Shipwreck - South Jetty - Warrenton Waterfront Trail
Ft.
Stevens State Park Military Museum
The concrete bunkers, empty gun emplacements, enormous cannons and a free museum highlight the Ft. Stevens Military Museum. Located at the mouth of the Columbia in the town of Hammond, the museum also presents an exhibit of a Chinook Indian long house. There is a fee for parking.
Built during the Civil War to protect the mouth of the Columbia River from Confederate ships, this military museum plays host to Civil War and WWII re-enactments during the summer and on Labor Day weekend.
Thrill
to the Blue and Gray facing off on the battle field in realistic confrontation.
Seasoned re-enactors by the thousands descend upon Ft. Stevens and set
up camp. Walk among the tents, soldiers and their families as they live
in a recreation of 1860. Watch from the safety of the hillsides as they
battle to simulated death.
Ft. Stevens Historic Events:
- May 21st - Armed Forces Day
- May 28 to 30th - Memorial Day Weekend-Military Living History
- June 21st- Anniversatry of the shelling of Fort Stevens
- July 4 - Living History all weekend
- July 16 thru 17 - WWII re-enactment
- Sept. 3 thru 5 - Civil War re-enactment
- November 11 thru 13 - Lewis and Clark Signature Events
Ft. Stevens State Park Campground
The state park is also the largest campground in Oregon with 3,700 acres, nine miles of nature hiking and biking trails, ocean beaches and much more. It is open year round. If you arrive in the summer without reservations you will not likely find an open site. Click here to make your reservation.
In
1916 the sailing ship Peter Iredale was heading for Portland to pick up
a load of grain destined for China. Rough weather forced the captain to
anchor off shore near the mouth of the Columbia River and wait. However,
the anchor didn't hold and the wind blew the empty ship onto the beach,
where it rests today, a stark reminder of the hazards of this area known
by sailors as the "Graveyard of the Pacific."
Shifting sands alternately cover and expose protions of the full length of the ship. More is usually visible during winter months. To find the wreck, go to Ft. Stevens State Park and follow the signs to the free parking lot, or even drive onto the beach if the tide is out. And keep an eye on that tide!
Construction
on the South Jetty began in 1885. A railroad trestle was built from Warrenton
to carry train loads of huge chunks of basalt rock barged down the Columbia
River from the Portland area. The jetty project, considered the largest
engineering project in the U.S. at the turn of the century, took 30 years
to complete. It effectively closed the mouth of the Columbia River down
from eight miles of shifting, treacherous sands to two miles wide. Immediately
after the first boulders were place in the river, sand began accumulating.
Today, you can drive to the mouth of the river over sand dunes that didn't
exist above water in the 1800's.
The following link demonstrates the incredible growth of Clatsop Spit after the construction of the jetty, and in a time-line graphic spots the many shipwrecks that occured at the mouth of the Columbia. Go there now. Close browser window to return to Warrenton pages. "Back" won't work.