Bayocean: Atlantis of Oregon
Thursday, June 6, 2024
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Categories
Join the Cannon Beach History Center & Museum on Thursday, June 6, 2024, at 4:00 p.m. for their last lecture of the season as they welcome Oregon author, Jerry Sutherland. Jerry will be discussing his latest book, Bayocean: Atlantis of the Ocean which focuses on the Oregon resort town that fell into the Pacific Ocean. Like Plato’s fictional island kingdom, most of Bayocean sank below the sea long ago. The rest lies buried beneath the shore pine, salal, and beach grass covering the four-mile-long spit that protects Tillamook Bay from the Pacific Ocean. His book chronicles the half-century the Oregon resort town existed, tells the stories of the people involved, and explains its financial and physical demise. Fifty-seven maps, photographs, and diagrams help readers visualize this unique catastrophe.
Jerry Sutherland began researching Oregon history in 2012 after his father (Art) asked him to look up something about Calvin Tibbets at the Oregon Historical Society. The thrill he experienced in discovering new information about historical events and people led to future visits, trips to archives across the United States and Canada, and the publishing of Calvin Tibbets: Oregon’s First Pioneer in August 2016.
In the fall of 2014, Sutherland learned that Bayocean—the sandspit that separates Tillamook Bay from the Pacific Ocean—had once hosted a thriving resort. His surprise at having never seen any evidence of its existence while hiking there prompted him to learn more. He created www.bayocean.net to share some of what he was discovering with the public. When Grant McOmie took notice in the summer of 2015, he asked for help with a Grant’s Getaway program about Bayocean. Four years later, Jule Gilfillan consulted him regarding an Oregon Field Guide special. Increasing interest from book publishers prompted Sutherland to start writing Bayocean: Atlantis of Oregon in 2019. It was published in February 2023. Signed books will be available for purchase.
This event is free and open to the public and will be held at the Cannon Beach History Center & Museum, located at 1387 South Spruce Street, Cannon Beach, OR. Seating for this event is at a limited capacity of 50 people. This lecture starts promptly at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 6, 2024. Parking for this event is extremely limited and it is encouraged to arrive early to find parking. This lecture is part of the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum’s annual John Williams Lecture Series that occurs every February through June. For further information about this event, visit www.cbhistory.org or call 503-436-9301.