Tillamook Coast
This coastal region is a watery, culinary, cheesy—and collaborative—wonderland written by James Sinks | photography by Tillamook Coast Visitors Association Prior to statehood, there was no easy overland route to Tillamook Bay. So, before refrigeration was a thing, settlers had to rely on faster seafaring shippers to transport dairy and farm products to market in more populous Astoria and Portland. Thus, when traders said in the 1850s they’d no longer make the treacherous trek into the bay, it could have been disastrous. Cranky and motivated, the community came together and built its own boat, milling local lumber and scrounging metal and sails from nearby shipwrecks. Local tribal members even aided in the construction of what became the state’s first christened ship, and the Morning Star of Tillamook made its maiden voyage in 1855. It stands as an example of an apt oxymoron—independent cooperation—that still defines the Tillamook Coast. In 1909,…