The history of the cannon (and now cannons) of Cannon Beach is the stuff great adventure movies are made of, seriously Hollywood are you listening?

The first cannon, the one the town is named for was rescued from the tide in 1898, but how it got there is a real life high seas adventure, the kind Jack London or Herman Melville might dream up. It all began with a Shark, the Schooner Shark that is, a U.S. Naval ship sent to the Columbia River to make U.S. presence known in an area that was in dispute between the United States and Britain. Little did the crewmen know, that by the time they reached the Columbia RIver a treaty had already been signed and their mission now in vain.

When they attempted to leave the Columbia RIver several months later, the river refused to cooperate and the ship sank on a sand spit in 1846. The ship broke apart, and a partion of the deck came ashore a few weeks later in modern day Cannon Beach/Arch Cape. Efforts were made to recover the cannons and other valuables from teh deck, but trasporting those items was impossible so they were left behind.

Then, in 1898 one of the cannons came ashore in modern day Arch Cape and was pulled to shore. It has become not just the namesake of Cannon Beach, but part of the fabric of life in our small coastal town. It spent time along the road, in front of the post office, and even at a farm, until it came to it's permanent home here at the Cannon Beach History Center.

Two additional cannons were found in 2008 along the beach by some visitors, they have been sent to Texas A&M University where they are being restored. One cannon has finished its restoration, and one is in the process. A process which includes months of soaking in electronically charged baths, and numerous coatings of tannic acid and microcrystalline wax.

Find out more about the USS Shark, the cannons - all three, the restoration process, and see plenty of amazing artifacts related to the ship. This exhibit will be on display through July 2012.

 

Native American Longhouse

NEW permanent exhibit

The Native American Longhouse iis a hands-on exhibit for visitors of all ages. Children are invited to touch the cedar-bark cape, bowls, and skins furnishing the exhibit, and to use the space to pretend with our toys. The exhibit was designed in cooperation with the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes, and the longhouse is furnished with replica artifacts crafted by Native American artisans around the Northwest.

Native American villages of the Northwest Coast consisted of several of these longhouses, which were built in clearings between forest and tidewater. Each longhouse served as a home, workshop, and ceremonial space and housed an entire extended family, with 20 or more people sometimes living in a single home.

The Cannon Beach History Center’s longhouse exhibit shows a small-scale longhouse’s interior, typical of a small home or a seasonal fishing hut. Today, Natives living on the Oregon Coast live in European style homes, but often still use longhouses for festivals and celebrations of their traditional ways.

Permanent Interpretive Exhibit

The permanent exhibit, Cannon Beach: A Place by the Sea was based on the book of the same name authored by Terence O’Donnell. The exhibit is rich in visual material, telling the story about what attracted people to Cannon Beach throughout time. Drawing from the archives of CBHS, photos reveal the town’s past and the arduous journey it was to get here.

The story of the Tillamook Indians, Lewis and Clark, Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, logging, historic hotels and buildings, recreation, the Great Depression, World War II, and Cannon Beach today are all told through this interactive exhibit, which is also translated in Spanish.

The interactive childrens exhibit features tide pool life, and children will love learning more about sea stars, coastal forests, and bird life on the Coast!

All in all, the view from Tillamook Head, the rising sentinels of Haystack Rock and the Needles, and the seven miles of “singing sands” and sparkling surf are like magnets drawing people back year after year to Cannon Beach, a special "place by the sea.”

Spanish Audio Translation of Permanent Exhibit

Visitors to the museum can hear the text of the permanent exhibit read in Spanish, on hear-sets located at each major display panel around the museum. Financial support for the Cannon Beach History Center’s Audio Spanish Translation Project was provided by the Bloomfield Family Foundation, Oregon Council for the Humanities, and the City of Cannon Beach. Several Cannon Beach volunteers also contributed translation, recording, and installation services.

The Cannon

The Cannon Beach History Center and Museum is home to the original Cannon Beach cannon. This artifact has always been a subject of interest. Also learn more about recent findings of two more cannons on an Arch Cape beach.