![]() The trip to Astoria, depending on your route, will take 1.5 to 2 hours. Today, you’ll head west from Portland to the Pacific Ocean, but before you actually meet up with the sea, you’ll encounter the 14-mile-wide mouth of the Columbia River at Astoria. Remember that you will need a Forest Service–issued Oregon Pacific Coast Passport to park or camp at state parks. If you travel with a tent or RV, there are excellent campgrounds in state parks all along the coast. ![]() Bring a fleece, a hoodie, a hat, and some kind of rain gear, no matter what time of year you visit. So here’s a week-long itinerary just for the Oregon coast. But this rugged seascape offers exciting sights and experiences like whale watching, surf-pounded white-sand beaches, giant headlands, lonely lighthouses, and scenic byways that leave the highway and take you to places of spectacular natural grandeur. The Oregon coast is wild, windy, rocky, forested, with a lot of towns and villages that almost look like afterthoughts. The water’s too cold for swimming, and if you crashed your surfboard into one of the offshore rocks, you’d be a goner. But why do that when there is so much to see? Spending a week exploring the Oregon coast will reinvigorate your senses, especially if you are an active traveler who likes to get out and go for a walk on the beach-even if it’s rainy-or hike along a forest trail with stunning views of the Pacific below.īear in mind that the Oregon coast is not a bikini-and-surfboard playground. Staying on this (usually) two-lane highway, you could easily cover the entire coast in 2 or certainly 3 days. 101, the main artery, winds, climbs, twists, and curves along the entire coast, often but not always with the ocean in view. Adams lived in a house near the lighthouse and every spring she opened the light for the season and every winter she closed it down after the fishermen had pulled their boats in for the winter.The Oregon coast stretches from Astoria in the north to Brookings in the south, a distance of about 364 miles. She had already been taking care of the lighthouse for the final year and half of her husband’s life, due to his illness. At that point, Maisie Adams was 30 years old and caring for three children between the ages of 1 and 7. She operated the New London Lighthouse from 1943 to 1959, having become the lightkeeper after her husband, Claude, died of cancer at age 40. Maisie Adams was Prince Edward Island’s only woman lightkeeper. ![]() Maisie Adams-New London Lighthouse, Prince Edward Island Denise cared for the lighthouse until 1927, when she fell down the slippery lighthouse stairs and broke her arm, leaving her unable to perform her duties. In 1913, lightkeeper James Arsenault died, leaving his wife, Denise, in charge of the light. The Arsenault family was responsible for the light for 65 years. In the late 1800s, this was a resort destination and home to the grand Inch Arran Hotel. ![]() It overlooks the Chaleur Bay in New Brunswick and is still in operation as a range light. A beautiful salt-shaker style lighthouse, it has a unique birdcage-shaped lantern gallery. The Inch Arran lighthouse (sometimes referred to as the Bon Ami lighthouse) was built in 1870. Inch Arran Hotel and Lighthouse ( e011435492)ĭenise Arsenault-Inch Arran Lighthouse, Dalhousie, New Brunswick She received the Imperial Service Medal in 1934 for her work as a lightkeeper. She kept the light on at Discovery Island for over thirty years before finally retiring to Victoria, British Columbia, at the age of 67. At the time she was appointed lightkeeper, Mary had two daughters and was supporting her own family while also caring for her ailing father. Although she officially became the Discovery Island lightkeeper in 1902, she had already been caring for the lighthouse for five years while her father, the official lightkeeper, was suffering from a long illness. It is possible that Mary Croft was Canada’s first woman lightkeeper. Mary Croft-Discovery Island Lighthouse, Discovery Island, British Columbia As such, there were several women lightkeepers across the country throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. That person was often the lightkeeper’s wife or child because they were already in place and had the knowledge and experience to operate the light. As the position was awarded for life, when a lightkeeper passed away, someone had to immediately take over. Officially, lightkeepers were usually men but, in reality, the whole family helped to keep the lights going. ![]() Such was the life for Canada’s women lightkeepers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Add to that being a grieving widow, or a person caring for an ailing spouse or young children. Imagine the solitary life of a lighthouse keeper: working alone in a remote location, throughout the night and during storms, always making sure that the light never goes out. ![]()
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