This has been a long few weeks of recovery from hip replacement surgery and cabin fever is setting in. So a few days ago we threw caution to the wind and took a picnic to the Coast Guard Station atop Coast Guard Hill.
Crews Quarters © AME
Normally we head directly out to the headlands trails for the views south to Humbug Mountain and Cape Sebastian and north across Agate Beach and Garrison Lake, past Paradise Point and around the south side of Cape Blanco to the lighthouse about eight miles due north.
Crew Steps © SR Euston
Port Orford Bow © SR Euston
These are the original trails the Coast Guard surfmen used to reach their observation watch tower as well as their boats, stationed 280 feet below in Nellie’s Cove. The trails remain well maintained, in some places paved, in others bark dusted. But today is not a day for trails; they are still a little iffy for crutches.
The Port Orford © SR Euston
So we picnic on the old parade ground and explore what’s left of the Station: the remaining crews quarters (now the museum building); the “Port Orford” (one of the original rescue boats); the bell tower; and the paved path which used to lead down 280+ stairs to the Cove below and now leads only into a giant Port Orford cedar. The buildings are over 75 years old, beautiful with classic Craftsman lines and simple proportions, and (to us transplants) a definite New England look. There are others of identical design on the East Coast and Great Lakes but in viewing their photos it’s obvious that Port Orford’s choice to go with Pacific Northwest unpainted cedar shakes over the more traditional white clapboard was a wise one. Our station has weathered, it seems, much more gracefully and well.
Practice Righting the Boat @ 1940s: Photo Courtesy of Cape Blanco Heritage Society
Who can imagine being brave enough to race down those rickety stairs in a soaking gale and be flung out into the sea in what seems a way too tiny boat to rescue foundering mariners offshore? Still, from 1934 until the Coast Guard Station was decommissioned in 1970, that’s exactly what countless surfmen did. Their motto: “You have to go out, but you do not have to come back!”
For more information see: www.portorfordlifeboatstation.org/
Flags © AME
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