Take a short adventure along Willapa Bay to find this cafe and shop starring Goose Point Oysters. Though its address is in nearby Bay Center, the oystery is located along U.S. Highway 101, just beyond a cutoff that winds toward the close village.

Crossing the Niawiakum River from the south, the set of brilliant white buildings is hard to miss, forming a landmark on the river’s north bank.

Follow a sidewalk between warehouses from an accessible parking area to find a deck and shop. A wide-open site with garage-style doors, the oystery exposed to the breeze and wafts of salt and brine.

Though small, its shelves are packed and its refrigerated glass showcase full of seafood. Mugs, hats and shirts abound, as do shucking knives and cocktail sauces. Then, of course, there is the seafood. What to choose – shucked oysters, oysters in the shell, smoked oysters, shooters, steamer clams? Then there’s smoked salmon, jerky and shrimp cocktails.

Enjoy your choice outside at one of the cafe’s four picnic tables while overlooking the river and estuary.

Willapa Bay oysters have a long history, having been a delicacy of local Indigenous people for centuries. Oysters became a lucrative market during the 1850s and 1860s, with schooners laden for trade to San Francisco.

However, by the 1870s, oyster populations dwindled, leaving private tidelands to seed small oyster farms, a practice that still exists. Willapa Bay is now one of the most pristine estuaries in the United States.

Following an entrepreneurial dream, David and Maureene Nisbet acquired a mere 10 acres of tideland in the bay in 1975 and began selling iced oysters out of the back of their pickup truck.

Their small business quickly grew into the Nisbet Oyster Co., and today, with their daughter Kathleen aboard, the family farm and cannery stretches over 2,000 acres.

Part of their processing technique is to naturally pre-shuck oysters, using only water pressure to detach the oysters from their shells, retaining all their texture and flavor. Find them on a scenic drive with an idyllic view.