 | | Port Orford Heads State Park was constructed in 1934 by the Coast Guard to provide lifesaving service to the southern portion of the Oregon Coast until 1970. A museum, operated by the Point Orford Heritage Society, is now housed in the station.The park has excellent hiking trails on the headlands affording spectacular views up and down the Pacific Coast. There is a large resident blacktail deer population; please treat them as the wild animals they are. The Port Orford Lifeboat Station (Coast Guard Station #318) was commissioned in 1934 to provide lifesaving service to the southern portion of the Oregon coast. The station served the area until its decommissioning in 1970. The station at Port Orford was one of the three earliest Coast Guard stations constructed in Oregon (earlier stations had been built by the U.S. Life-Saving Service). Neither of the other two Coast Guard-built station retains the degree of integrity as found here. Port Orford's station complex gracefully combines Cape Cod and classical building forms with Craftsman features, and with its cedar shingles, presents a style typical of the Pacific coast. Lifeboat stations built during the 1920's through the 1940's represented the highest achievements in Coast Guard architecture. After World War II, station designs changed, making them more military in character. Although simple, the Port Orford station compound exemplifies Oregon's Coast Guard Stations and is the only Chatham-type station remaining on the coast. Other Chatham-type stations, virtual carbon copies, remain on the East Coast and Great Lakes. Those stations are finished in white clapboard, while the Port Orford station is finished in cedar shingles. The two-story crew quarters and office building, the officer-in-charge residence, garage, storage building and pump house are still standing. Together with curbed driveways, areas of lawn and privet hedge surrounding the structures and the elevated paths and walkways, the ensemble conveys a particular sense of place and time. The Port Orford station's officer-in-charge residence is virtually identical to the officer-in-charge residence at the Point Reyes Lifeboat Station in California. As with the crew quarters, the exterior of the Port Orford residence is cedar shingles, while the Point Reyes house is traditional clapboard, giving the Port Orford station a unique Pacific Northwest appearance. |
| |  | | | Facilities: Port Orford Heads State Park provides restrooms and picnic areas. Reservations: Reservations are not accepted for Port Orford Heads State Park. Best Time To Visit: Port Orford Heads State Park museum is open April-October, Thursday-Monday, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Fees: No fees are charged. Accessibility: Handicap accessibility is not provided. Rules: Unknown Directions: To reach Port Orford Heads State Park from Brookings start out going southwest toward US-101 for 0.1 miles. Turn right onto US-101. Continue to follow US-101 for 56.2 miles. Turn right onto 9th St. for 0.1 miles. End at Port Orford. | | |
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| | | | Address | | Oregon Parks and Recreation Department | | 725 Summer Street NE, Suite C | | Salem, Oregon 97301 |
| | | Phone | | General: (800) 551-6949 | |
| | | | | Website | | Email |
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