Old, Familiar Oregon Coast Landmark Tree Falls Off Garibaldi's Three Graces

Published 01/02/25 at 5:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Garibaldi, Oregon) – Sometimes the winds of change blow a lot harder – like knock-something-down hard. (Photos Romy Carver: before and after)

A favorite scenic silhouette on the north Oregon coast was toppled during the Christmas windstorm of 2024, a day that also brought down many power lines. Yet it's the landmark that really hit the heartstrings of locals and regular visitors alike, with many bemoaning the loss of a familiar sight.

The Three Graces are an ancient presence on the Tillamook Bay, right about the northern end of Garibaldi. Atop the middle of the Three Graces was a towering tree, one that had been there for a good 100 years and managed to thrive atop an inhospitable spot for trees.

Yet how did it get there? How did it take root up there? Maybe it wasn't really thriving. It's a curious story.

Romy Carver

Romy Carver from Bay City provided some photographs of the recent change in scenery to Oregon Coast Beach Connection. It has made locals a little sad.

“It's a popular attraction and a favorite thing to photograph,” Carver told Oregon Coast Beach Connection. “People are pretty sentimental about the tree, and are sad about the cormorants losing their favorite roosting spot.”

Oregon Coast Beach Connection

Local residents say the tree died a few years ago, while one expert said it may have been less than that. So it's not surprising the famed tree – which apparently had no real name or nickname – came down during a heavy windstorm.

The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad chugs past it on every trip. The way the bend in the highway is situated, you can focus on little else as you come around the curves of Tillamook Bay.

Three Graces at night / Oregon Coast Beach Connection

“There's a business here called The Salty Heron that makes mugs and tshirts and things like that, and they have a design of the tree on the rock which is popular,” Carver said. “It's just one of those recognizable coastal things, I guess.”

It was also home to critters.

“I'm not sure how long the tree has been dead, but it's looked pretty dead for awhile,” Carver said. “However, its branches were often full of cormorants, so it provided them a home.”

When you look at older photographs – like this one from around 2009 – you can see the tilt-angled tree still with greenery. It goes back well over 100 years, as Carver provided a historic photo of the place way back in 1910.

Erick Finnell, Stewardship Forester with Oregon Department of Forestry, said he's driven past it quite a bit and always noticed it was kind of a scraggly one.

Finnell said it was quite likely it died within the last two, three years.

Living at that rather precarious state and angle, it would not have lasted long once it died.

How do trees get up onto sea stacks like that? And how does soil even get there?

Finnell said first there are concave areas in those rocks where soil can collect. He thinks it's entirely possible the rocks were closer to land before they built the jetties, which channeled the river's direction slightly, flooding this area.

“It could've been from a seed that was dropped by a bird, or maybe blown off the hill,” Finnell said. “And by a miracle it sprouted on top of the rock.”

It had a lucky environment, to some degree. There was probably just enough soil for a root to take hold.

Also see Beloved Beach Arch in Newport Crumbles, Leaving Oregon Coast With Bit of Geologic Mystery

“This is a cool, wet place with soil and a lot of moisture,” Finnell said.

You can see plenty of other trees on those Three Graces. Yet this one was particularly good at beating the odds with its angle and surroundings.

“It was probably quite a stressed-out tree growing on a rock like that,” he said. “The older the tree and the bigger it gets, the more resources it needs. Until it just hit the rock below and just died.”

Finnell said it was likely a sitka spruce.

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