Experience Our Current
EXHIBITS
Our exhibits are designed to entertain the history buff, natural scientist, artist, and lover of all things Cannon Beach. We have two rotating exhibits (one art/history and one local history), and several permanent features of the museum.
Temporary Classroom Exhibit:
Souvenir: Past to Present – A textile and fine art exhibition by Becky deVries-Wong
The Cannon Beach History Center & Museum is proud to present Souvenir: Past to Present, a new exhibit by artist Becky deVries-Wong, opening Friday, October 4 and running through December 31, 2025. This exhibit invites visitors to explore memory, storytelling, and tradition through the lens of fine art and textile work.
A souvenir is more than a keepsake, it’s a memory made tangible, a moment preserved. In this evocative exhibit, deVries-Wong uses traditional techniques to create modern works that carry the emotional weight of remembrance and the creative spark of the present.
Her work includes original needlework based on historic samplers (silk on linen, counted threadwork), intricate textiles and fabric collage, appliqué, Broderie Perse, English Paper Piecing, foundation paper piecing, hand and machine sewing, as well as 3D fabric and mixed media pieces. The exhibit also showcases her oil and watercolor paintings.
Throughout history, quilting and needlework have served as more than just domestic arts, they’ve been tools of expression, resistance, and education. As deVries-Wong shares, “Sometimes quilting gave women the only platform to voice opinions they weren’t allowed to speak.” Her pieces draw inspiration from historic techniques and elevate them into contemporary works that bridge past and future.
This exhibit is on display through December 31, 2025.
Current Temporary Exhibit:
The Cannon Beach History Center & Museum is excited to present a temporary exhibit celebrating 20 years of the Friends of Haystack Rock (FOHR). This special exhibit highlights FOHR’s dedication to the preservation, education, and advocacy of marine life at Haystack Rock, with a focus on the iconic tufted puffins and the rich intertidal ecosystem.
Visitors will explore two decades of FOHR’s impactful work through displays showcasing educational initiatives, ongoing research, and advocacy efforts that have made a lasting difference for Cannon Beach’s marine environment. This exhibit honors FOHR’s mission to protect and celebrate the unique biodiversity of Haystack Rock, inspiring both residents and visitors to continue advocating for this incredible natural treasure.
Come join us at the Cannon Beach History Center & Museum to celebrate FOHR’s remarkable journey!
Temporary Art Exhibit:
Seasonal Light
Photography by Seasons Kaz Sparks
A celebration of light, wildlife, and the quiet beauty of the Oregon Coast, Seasonal Light features sunset photography by Seasons Kaz Sparks, the creative force behind Salty Raven. Best known for her minimalist illustrations and playful product lines, Sparks captures something more intimate in this exhibit: golden-hour moments where Haystack Rock and the region’s resident elk seem to pause with the setting sun.
Widely recognized for her whimsical Flock of Gerrys series and screen-printed goods, Sparks brings that same sense of wonder to her lens, this time with the coast itself as her subject. These photographs reflect not only the passage of time through light and season, but the enduring spirit of this place we call home. You can explore more of her work at Salty Raven, her storefront in Cannon Beach located at 140 South Hemlock Street, which features her original designs on apparel, glassware, home goods, and more.
Native American Longhouse
The Native American Longhouse is 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 & Museum’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 CBHCM, photos reveal the town’s past and the arduous journey it was to get here.
The story of the Tillamook Natives, Lewis and Clark, Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, 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 children’s 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.