In the southwest corner of Washington, in beautiful Pacific County, lies a tiny town you may not have heard of. With a population of fewer than 120 people, when we say tiny, we truly mean teeny-tiny. Oysterville is a lovely coastal hamlet, but few people realize how much history is preserved in this small Washington town.

Long before pioneer settlers arrived at the area now known as Oysterville, Indigenous Chinook Indians harvested oysters from Willapa Bay, which was abundant with these succulent shellfish.
chelsealwood, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Pioneers Robert Hamilton Espy and Isaac Alonzo Clark settled in the area and established the village as Oysterville in 1854.
Library Of Congress
Chinook Chief Nahcati led Espy and Clark to the mudflats along Willapa Bay piled high with oysters.
Susan Andrews, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
At that time, San Francisco was rich in gold and hungry for oysters, and Oysterville had plenty to go around.
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For this reason, Espy and Clark marketed their mollusks earning $10 in gold for a peach basket full of oysters, an unheard-of sum for that time.
Lumpytrout, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
By 1855, Oysterville became a booming oyster distributor and the population exploded.
Lumpytrout, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Consequently, the town became the county seat for Pacific County with a church, a school, saloons, and a newspaper, but interestingly enough, no bank was ever established.
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With no banks in town, residents found less conventional ways of hiding their gold which could be found stashed under mattresses or buried in tin cans. Fun fact; it is said that at that time, Oysterville housed more gold than any other West Coast city besides San Francisco.
Unfortunately, in the late 1880s, the native oysters became sparse, and the much-anticipated railroad line ended in Nahcotta, a disappointing four miles from Oysterville.
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Today, oysters are harvested daily at Oysterville Sea Farms on the site of the last cannery left in Oysterville.
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Oysterville Sea Farms prides itself on its clean estuary and sustainable practices.

Did you know about the history of this tiny village town? Have you visited Oysterville? Tell us about your experience in the comments.

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Oysterville, WA 98641, USA