What is today known as Seaside, Oregon was first inhabited by the Clatsop Indians. For thousands of years, their ancestors thrived with the various types of trees, dozens of varieties of freshwater fish, an abundance of game and berries, and miles of gorgeous, untamed coastline.

Many years later, Seaside became famous for being the marked end of the Lewis & Clark Trail. To commemorate their spectacular trip across the country, a gorgeous statue stands at the edge of the beach, right in downtown Seaside. Just up the street is their famous Town Center Carousel and blocks of great shops and boutiques, museums, and much more. Seaside is indeed a favorite tourist stop along the spectacular Oregon coastline.

Today, along with over three miles of gorgeous beachfront and two miles of carefully constucted ocean front boardwalk, Seaside draws tourists from both the north and the south by entertaining visitors at the Seaside Aquarium. For a nominal entrance fee, visitors can see dozens of various sealife including an octopus in an open tank. Of course, no trip to the Seaside Aquarium is complete without taking the opportunity to feed the seals who love to show off for their food. Visitors can purchase a small bag of fish and watch the seals perform for their food. It's quite an interesting (and sometimes wet) experience!

Just south of Seaside, at Ecola State Park, visitors get the clearest view possible (from land) of the northernmost lighthouse on the Oregon Coast - Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. Built in 1881 over a mile out to sea, this 62 feet tall building was designed to send its light out to sea at 133 feet above sea level. Unfortunately, it wasn't completed quite quickly enough. Just days before the lantern was lit for the first time on January 21, 1881, an English ship and her crew of sixteen were lost as they struck the coastline in the dark.

This tragedy seemed to set the pace for "Terrible Tilly" as over the next several decades, lonely lightkeepers often found themselves stranded for months at a time without supplies as provisions couldn't reach the lighthouse on a regular basis. Waves would crash against the giant rock base, carrying debris up against the lighthouse and causing major damage to the building. Finally, with the high cost of maintenance being too much to bear, the U.S. Lighthouse Service decided to deactivate the lighthouse on September 10, 1957. Now privately owned, this magnificent building now operates as a crypt for the cremated. Even from a distance, the history of Tillamook Rock Lighthouse reaches out to visitors in the Seaside area.

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