For generations before the pioneer settlers arrived, Chinook Indians gathered oysters in this part of Willapa Bay and camped in the area that is now known as Oysterville. They called it "tsako-te~hahsh-eetl" which, like many Indian words, had two meanings - "place of the red-topped grass" and "home of the yellowhammer." (Yellowhammer is the local name for the red-shafted flicker, a woodpecker common to this region.)
Oysterville was settled in 1854 by R.H. Espy and I. A. Clark. They had agreed on a rendezvous with Chief Nahcati who had told Espy of tidelands covered with succulent oysters. On April 20, as they paddled north from the head of the bay, they became engulfed by a heavy fog. Their sense of direction vanished and they feared they would be swept out to sea. However, Nahcati had spotted them before the fog rolled in and, by rhythmically pounding on a hollow log, directed them to shore. Nahcati had not exaggerated. The mudflats were piled high with tiny native oysters, there for the taking.
Espy and Clark marketed the bivalves in gold-rich, oyster-hungry San Francisco. There, a plate of oysters sold for a Mexican "slug" which was worth two and a half times a twenty dollar gold piece. Within a few months there were 500 settlers in Oysterville and in 1855 it became the county seat of Pacific County. Washington Territory. It had many firsts: a school, a college, a newspaper, and finally, in 1873, a First Methodist church. Oysterville was a rip-roarin' town in those days. There were those who lived in "sin" and those who lived to be "saved" - about an even division. When the church was dedicated, the hard drinkers abandoned the saloons, marched in a body to the church, put their gold pieces in the collection plate, and returned to what they considered more stimulating than praying - drinking.
When oyster schooners came to pick up their cargo of bivalves, the oyster owners were paid in gold coin. Since a bank was the one business that was never established in this boomtown metropolis, gold receipts were stashed under mattresses or buried in old tin cans for safe keeping. It is said that there was often more gold here than in any other town on the West Coast except San Francisco.
In the late 1880s fate took a hand: the long-awaited railroad line ended at Nahcotta, an isolating four miles away; the native oysters became scarce and, without the possibility of a local livelihood, residents moved out en masse; finally, in 1893, the courthouse records were stolen by South Bend "raiders~" Oysterville gradually became a sleepy little village where "time stood still." Stop long enough to listen - you will hear the whispers of the past.
If you want to see, in a small way, what Oysterville looked like in the old days, walk down Clay Street opposite the church to the edge of the bay and look back toward the village. You will see the fronts of the old homes which were built facing the bay. The street directly in front of the church, Territory Road, was once called 4th Street; Main Street was about where the easterly white picket fence is now; 1st Street was about where the easterly wire fence is near the bay; and Front Street is now out in the tidelands.
Oysterville is proud of the fact that it was placed on the Register of National Historic Districts in 1976. The District encompasses about 80 acres of the village.
Click for the a walking tour of Historic Oysterville
Historic Photos & Documents:
THE OYSTERVILLE RESTORATION FOUNDATION
Shortly after the village was designated a National Historic District, the community formed the Oysterville Restoration Foundation. Its purpose is "to maintain, repair and aid in the preservation and restoration of buildings and sites of national historic interest located in the Oysterville National Historic District and to do all matters of business incidental thereto." Thus far, maintenance and repair with restoration funds have been limited to the Oysterville Church and to the several parcels of open space, which came under the stewardship of the Foundation. Preservation and care of private property, including the historic homes and other buildings in the District, is the responsibility of the individual property owners. Financial support for the Foundation is through grants and individual donations as well as proceeds from the rentals of the church and the offerings during summer vespers services.
THE OYSTERVILLE DESIGN REVIEW BOARD
To safeguard the historic character of Oysterville, residents have developed a set of guidelines for new construction as well as for repairs or renovations to existing structures. The regulations apply to the National Historic District and to the county-created “buffer zone" which surrounds it. Basic guidelines call for design features such as gabled roofs, porches oriented to the street and use of historic, rather than synthetic, building materials.
THE OYSTERVILLE COMMUNITY CLUB
The Oysterville Community Club has been involved with local improvement projects since the early 1900s and has managed and maintained the historic Oysterville Schoolhouse since 1957. The building, which is equipped with a full kitchen, is used for community activities and can be rented by the public for wedding receptions, family reunions, and other gatherings.
