Bayocean - by Jerry Sutherland (Paperback)

About the Book

Chronicle of a resort town destroyed by the sea.

Book Synopsis

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. This book chronicles the half-century this Oregon resort town existed, tells the stories of people who lived there, and explains its demise.

Starting in 1907, urbanites in Oregon's Willamette Valley and across the Pacific Northwest were promised a grand resort where they could enjoy cool, ocean breezes during hot summers. Lots sold quickly at first, especially those along Bayocean's one-hundred-foot-high ridgeline where bay and ocean views were breathtaking. But Tillamook's remote location, an economic downturn, and insufficient financial reserves led to delays, litigation, and receivership.

Though never grand, at one point or another Bayocean featured a massive natatorium, three hotels, forty-two rental cabins, a two-story mercantile, two restaurants, three dance halls, an amusement pavilion, and fifty-nine homes. Reed College students ran the resort one summer; a military academy for boys tried but failed another. A commune invigorated the town for a couple of years during the Great Depression, as did Coast Guard war dogs during World War II. These and other episodes in Bayocean's history make it more interesting than most, but the fact that nothing remains makes it matter.

Erosion began pulling homes into the sea in the late 1920s and undercut the oceanside natatorium in 1932. As the spit's foredune continued to recede, more homes fell. In November 1952 a storm surge blew its narrow southern section into Tillamook Bay. Four years later, the Army Corps of Engineers built a breakwater to reconnect the island to Cape Meares, destroying what remained of the town in the process. It took geologists, geographers, and oceanographers two decades to figure out that the erosion had been caused by faulty jetty planning rather than natural forces. Their work prevented similar environmental disasters from occurring elsewhere.

When Jerry Sutherland heard about Bayocean in 2014, he first read everything written about it. He then searched for additional information, traveling across the United States to look through personal and institutional archives. Along the way, he shared some of his discoveries with the public at www.bayocean.net and with the producers of television documentaries. But in his book, Sutherland shares it all.

Review Quotes

"On the narrow, sandy spit enclosing Tillamook Bay, there were once well-lit sidewalks for people living in dozens of bungalows. There was a grand hotel that promised to be among the largest north of Monterey Bay, ...a general store, and a steam-powered saltwater swimming pool. By 1960, all of it had washed into the sea. Bayocean Park, a coastal resort named in 1907 by a pair of Portland developers for its wide vistas atop a 100-foot ridge line, is the subject of research by author Jerry Sutherland in Bayocean: Atlantis of Oregon...The book details the peninsula's history, development and battles with coastal erosion...Most of the area's erosion stopped when a second jetty was built in the 1970s. The spit is now home to a county park with shore pines, dunes and narrow trails. All that remains of Bayocean is its name." -Lissa Brewer, Coast Weekend, August 22, 2023

"More than a century ago, a real estate developer traveling through Tillamook County hatched a plan to build a world-class beach resort on the spit between Tillamook Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Poor timing, access challenges, financial crises and, ultimately, erosion caused by hydrological ignorance ended up dooming Bayocean, which was nothing more than a memory just over 50 years after its founding. After discovering the story in the mid-2010s, author and historian Jerry Sutherland became fascinated with the story of the town and set off on a nearly-decade long quest to tell its story. That journey culminated in the publishing of Bayocean: Atlantis of Oregon earlier this year, in which Sutherland recounts the saga of the rise and fall of the now-buried town...Sutherland's newest book traces the stories of Bayocean's residents as they built homes and offers compelling insight into the causes of the town's eventual failure." -Will Chappell, Tillamook Headlight-Herald, August 8, 2023

"Events in the book are especially well documented. And if the discussion of litigation early seems overly complex, subsequent events involving the Bayocean development and spit erosion are more straight forward and extremely interesting to follow...In short, Bayocean: Atlantis of Oregon provides a unique opportunity to observe the birth and demise of an entire community within the timeline of approximately 50 years." -David Krogh, Southeast Examiner (Portland, OR), August 2023

"Bayocean: Atlantis of Oregon offers a comprehensive examination of a massive real estate development in one of the Northwest's most scenic and pristine ocean beaches. The many tales of speculation, promotion, and determination are interwoven with extensive research of original sources to tell the tales of a long-ago age. Jerry Sutherland teaches us history and also engages in storytelling at its best. At times, this reads like a thriller and mystery, becoming a page-turner and a biography of dreamers and adventurers, as well as many who were driven by greed and speculation. He brings speculators and pioneering residents to life, with a work that is abundantly supplemented with maps, photos, and helpful discussions of the times and the dreams of many...He manages to craft a resource of entrepreneurial spirit, natural dynamics, and tales of the lives of intriguing characters of our past. His efforts bring a much-needed reference and storybook for a land that is a fundamental part of the Oregon story." -Neal Lemery, Tillamook County Pioneer, March 26, 2023