State officials acquired the land on the Nehalem spit during the 1930s. Workers planted grass, trees and Scotch broom to stabilize the sand during the 1940s and 50s and built the air strip in 1958. The park opened in the early 1970s.
Promise of a railroad by 1911 from Portland to Nehalem Bay and south to Tillamook sparked a real estate boom for ocean resorts. Developers bought the Nehalem spit from the heirs of homesteaders.
Promise of a railroad by 1911 from Portland to Nehalem Bay and south to Tillamook sparked a real estate boom for ocean resorts. Developers bought the Nehalem spit from the heirs of homesteaders.