Events Look at Wildly Colored Critters, Mysterious N. Oregon Coast Lighthouse

Published 05/13/2018 at 5:35 PM PDT
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Cannon Beach, Oregon) – Delve into the past and present with two unique events on the north Oregon coast. One is a tour of some of the strange yet wildly beautiful tidepool creatures at Cannon Beach’s Haystack Rock, while another takes you into the history of the mysterious Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. (Nudibranch photo above courtesy Seaside Aquarium).

It’s high season on the entire Oregon coast, and at Cannon Beach’s Haystack Rock the Haystack Rock Awareness Program (HRAP) will be embarking upon a nudibranch safari. Far from the Serengeti, however, participants of all ages will trek through the intertidal wilds on a search for the elusive nudibranch that can only be found at low-tide.

The Nudibranch Safari will take place on May 19 from 9:30 – 10:30 a.m., and will be led by HRAP’s own Nudibranch Queen, Lisa Habecker. It will be fun for all ages and abilities as participants learn about the 16+ species of nudibranch that make Haystack Rock their home. This class is offered free of charge, but donations to the program will be accepted. Anyone interested in attending is asked to register in advanced online through Eventbrite.

The Haystack Rock Awareness Program, in its 33rd season on the beach, aims to protect, through education, the intertidal and bird ecology of the Marine Garden and National Wildlife Refuge at Haystack Rock. Having educated over one million visitors, HRAP aims to provide sustainability-focused educational opportunities.

For more information, visit http://www.ci.cannon-beach.or.us/HRAP or contact Lisa Habecker, HRAP Education & Volunteer Coordinator, at 503-436-8064 or Habecker@ci.cannon-beach.or.us.

Later in the month, you can dig deeper into the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, aka Terrible Tilly – a place as iconic an Oregon north coast landmark as Haystack Rock. This month’s History & Hops will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 31 at the Seaside Brewing Co., Local historian, photographer and author Brian Ratty will be at the helm for this presentation.

Family history with Terrible Tilly drove Ratty to write his most recently released book “Tillamook Rock Lighthouse: History and Tales of Terrible Tilly.” In December 2015, Ratty shared some of those stories-in-progress at one of the first History & Hops events presented by the Seaside Museum. Now Ratty returns to History & Hops, book recently published, to share more of his research, expanding with more tales and historical facts.

“There is something mysterious about the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, something marvelous and a little macabre,” Ratty said. “When one sees it, one wants to learn more.”

Ratty said he always felt a special connection to the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. His grandfather Harry Ratty almost died on the rock in 1934. He became ill due to exposure after a violent storm and was finally evacuated after several attempts at rescue. Ratty recalls the light’s beacon and horns from the time during WWII when his family lived in Seaside.

Construction of the lighthouse took 500 days and was completed in January 1881. It was decommissioned in 1957 yet the lighthouse structure remains. Standing 134 feet tall it has withstood the winds, storms and waves for 137 years, creating a history of its own.

Ratty is a retired media executive and graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography. He has written numerous magazine articles about the Pacific Northwest and won awards for his historical fiction novels. For more than thirty years, he has traveled the vast wilderness of the Pacific Coast in search of images and stories that reflect its spirit and splendor.

History & Hops is a series of local history discussions hosted by the Seaside Museum on the last Thursday of each month, September through May, at Seaside Brewing Co., 861 Broadway.

Preserving Seaside’s History since 1974, the Seaside Museum and Historical Society is a non-profit educational institution with the mission to collect, preserve and interpret materials illustrative of the history of Seaside and the surrounding area. The museum is located at 570 Necanicum Drive, Seaside and is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. More information can be found at www.seasideoregonuseum.com. Oregon Coast Hotels for these events - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours

Nudibranch photos below courtesy Seaside Aquarium

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