A postcard showing Neskowin Beach and Proposal Rock in the 1940s.

In the shadow of Cascade Head on Oregon’s north-central coast, Proposal Rock has a storied history.

The name of the sea stack at Neskowin Beach comes from a local legend, as retold by the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum: A marriage proposal from Charley Gage to Della Page on the summit sometime around 1900.

In several retellings, Gage is said to have been a sea captain, while Page was the daughter of a family who tended a farm along Neskowin Creek.

The name Proposal Rock was given by Page’s mother, Sarah, to mark the occasion.

Native Americans of the region had previously given the rock the name “Shlock.”

Few details of the proposal story are known, but supposing the couple rowed out to the rock or found it at low tide, they might have climbed up to explore a small spruce and alder forest. The rock’s summit is still accessible from the beach, though it’s a steep and dusty climb.

At the top, a network of trails crisscross through salal thickets and salmonberries, with views on a clear day out to the dunes of Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City.

But it’s likely the beach below doesn’t look quite the same.

Winter storms over the years have caused sand levels to ebb and flow. In the late 1990s, several layers of sand were swept away to reveal the long-hidden stumps of the Neskowin Ghost Forest, the remains of an ancient forest that stretches for about 1/4 mile south of the rock.

On my recent walk there, I saw little of the ghost forest — it’s more visible in the winter and spring months, I’m told — but there was one stump with a starfish who had found some shade and water.

Proposal Rock is a short hike from a parking lot at the Neskowin Beach State Recreation Site, down a wide, sandy path that follows the contours of Neskowin Creek.