Discover Our Coast is your guide to the Columbia-Pacific region, where the Great River of the West empties 1,200 miles from its Canadian headwaters into the expansive Pacific Ocean.

This confluence is nicknamed “the Graveyard of the Pacific” for the thousands of ships that have met their fates in its treacherous waters. Their stories are told in the region’s many museums, including the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum in Ilwaco, the Cannon Beach History Center & Museum, and many others.

Some are still being found.

In 2013, local fisherman Craig Andes discovered timbers later identified by researchers as belonging to the Santo Cristo de Burgos, a 17th-century Spanish galleon often called the “beeswax shipwreck” in reference to its precious cargo, which has been found along coastal beaches for decades.

That’s just one piece of the rich history this place holds.

Its story begins with the Chinook and Clatsop-Nehalem people who have called the region home for thousands of years, stewarding its lands, traveling its waterways by canoe and subsisting on the Columbia’s great salmon runs.

Established in 1811 as the oldest European settlement west of the Rocky Mountains, Astoria has a rich and storied history of its own. Many immigrants have made their home here, including from Scandinavian countries like Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and from Ireland, Germany, China, India and Japan. Many were loggers, fishermen, farmers and small business owners.

This is also where the Lewis and Clark expedition first laid eyes on the Pacific as they wintered over at Fort Clatsop between 1805 and 1806. In Seaside, discover how they made salt from seawater as reenactors bring a salt cairn to life every September, or follow in the explorers’ footsteps on the Clatsop Loop and Fort to Sea trails.

Or, take a simple stroll along sections of the 6-mile Astoria Riverwalk or the Long Beach Peninsula’s 8-mile Discovery Trail. Drive along the Oregon Coast Highway and pull over for magnificent views — and for the lucky, even whale watching — at the Neah-Kah-Nie Mountain overlook. There’s a natural wonder to be found behind every bend in the road.

As you travel south, be fascinated by rocky headlands and offshore rock formations called sea stacks, such as Cannon Beach’s Haystack Rock. These were shaped over 15 million years ago by great lava flows.

Today, they are part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, state parks and other marine reserves created to protect nesting seabirds and other wildlife.

The Oregon Coast, meanwhile — all 363 miles of it — is public shoreline, thanks to the 1967 Oregon Beach Bill.

Discover Our Coast, which includes the arts and entertainment weekly Coast Weekend, the annual Our Coast Magazine and other special sections issued throughout the year, continues to tell its story.

We profile the artists, chefs, naturalists, musicians, authors and many others who make this place special, and keep readers updated with arts and culture news, plus columns, recipes and reviews penned by local voices.

We invite you, as we do, to discover Our Coast’s wonders.

— Lissa Brewer

Editor of Coast Weekend and Our Coast Magazine