Ken Kesey's Clifftop Oregon Coast Home Up for Sale, Vibes are Inspirational

Published 07/21/25 at 5:35 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Yachats, Oregon) – In that mystery land between Florence and Yachats, where you'll often find more beach accesses than humans, there is a bit of little known literary history atop one of those cliffs. While parts of the state and central Oregon coast like Depoe Bay, the Siletz River and Salem all have ties to writer Ken Kesey in one way or another, this area was actually his part time home. (Photos courtesy Marck Shipley - Hommati 181)

And now the house that he used for inspiration is up for sale. It was recently listed by Shanna McCord with Fathom Realty for $699,000.

Also known as a little vacation rental called the Key-Sea, it sits on 2.13 acres several miles from Yachats. It's been in the Kesey family for nearly 50 years, acquired by them sometime after relocating to Pleasant Hill and the Eugene area in the '70s, where the post-Beat writer would spend the rest of his life.

The “rest of his life” when he wasn't here, to be exact. In a '90s video from National Geographic, he talks about the coast and coming out here to work. Indeed, he was certainly inspired here. Kesey said the ruggedness and the lack of modern world interference allowed his mind to wander new territory that surprised even him. “Ancient spirits,” ghosts and otherworldly things he didn't seem to have names for meandered through his imagination. the result of the constant lull of those waves. He asked himself: Why did this...or that...thought pop into his head?

It was almost more Lovecraft than Kesey.

All this happened after his run-ins with police and jail time in the '60s for smoking pot, and years and years after his apparently-unwilling participation in the CIA's despicable MKULTRA. He snagged this wonder spot well over a decade after he penned One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Once A Great Notion – the latter about Oregon. Both movies were filmed here.

By the '70s, his wacky Further Bus side act had really started chugging along, and the Merry Pranksters were known for occasionally showing up at Nehalem Bay Winery on the north coast. Kesey even read his works there a couple times.

Then when Kesey passed away in 2001, the house stayed with the family and was maintained by caretakers. At some point in the last 20 years it became the Key-Sea Vacation Rental: the website for that was still partially up the night of July 20, but now in the afternoon of July 21 it's gone.

Things really do change all at once. It's now known as “95080 Highway 101 S, Yachats” on Zillow. It has three bedroom and scores of fantastic views of surf, sea, sand and sky. As Kesey talked about, you can hear the waves crashing at all moments – at all times. It's a soothing way to light up fires in your creative side.

“A wood-burning stove adds warmth and rustic charm, perfect for coastal evenings,” the Zillow listing reads. “Originally designed as a two-bedroom, one-bath home, the garage was thoughtfully converted into a spacious third bedroom, ideal for guests or creative use. The expansive, double-lot property offers over two acres of oceanfront potential — imagine adding a guest house, new garage, or expanded living space, all with incredible views.”

It has a newer roof and fresh exterior paint, so maybe it's not hard to imagine Kesey looking down and smiling.

See the link.

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