Lifeline to the Past

In the Port Orford area, Cape Blanco Light Station, Historic Hughes House, and Port Orford Lifeboat Station together preserve a maritime past in which the ocean was both a highway and the economic center of life. Just off Port Orford, scattered rocks made the sea extremely hazardous to ships, and Cape Blanco Lighthouse was first lit on December 20th, 1870 to guide vessels around them. It is the oldest continually operating light station in Oregon. In 1934, as oceangoing trade and transport expanded, the U.S. Coast Guard established the Port Orford Lifeboat Station, whose crew rescued people from wrecked vessels.

Oregon · United States