After time spent on the beach do you want to see, you know, the cannon?
Over at the Cannon Beach History Center you’ll see one cannon from the 1846 shipwrecked USS Shark plus lots more. Starting with displays on the Chinook, Clatsop and Tillamook Indian tribes, area history over the past three centuries is carefully chronicled with artifacts, displays, hands-on exhibits and of course books and photographs available for purchase.
In January 1806 Captain William Clark, Sacajawea, and a party of 12 trekked south over Tillamook Head on a rumor that a large grey whale had beached, from which valuable oil could be rendered. Upon arriving at the mouth of a creek (Ecola Creek, at the north entrance to Cannon Beach) they found a 105 foot whale skeleton. Clark could only barter on the spot with the everpresent Tillamook Indians for 300 pounds of blubber and a few gallons of oil.
Or try the self-guided historic walking tour through downtown with fifteen sites to ponder. You’ll discover that in 1924 the popular Natatorium (3rd and Hemlock) housed a 30’ x 60’ indoor saltwater pool. Until the 1950s the Wave Roller Rink (1st and Hemlock) offered all-day skating for 35 cents with silent movies at night. Today you can still see the building -- it's now the Coaster Theatre. Where the post office stands today was the place to be around1925 as the Round Table Restaurant became the central gossip point for locals.