Depoe Bay Real Estate

The City of Depoe Bay, Oregon is located in Lincoln County on U.S. Route 101 next to the Pacific Ocean. The population was 1,174 at the 2000 census, with an unofficial estimated population of 1,355 in 2007. The bay of the same name is a 6-acre harbor that the city promotes as the world's smallest.

Depoe Bay was founded by Siletz Indian "Charley" Depot (whose name was later changed to "DePoe"). His original tribal affiliation was Tututni. Sometime in the late 1800’s the U. S. government allotted over 200 acres of undeveloped land that lay beside a small ocean bay to Charles Depoe and his heirs and assigns. Landlocked, it was accessible only by wagon, boat, on horseback or on foot. An official plat circa 1915 documents that Charles, Matilda, Minnie and William B. Depoe owned all of the ocean front land beside the bay. The land extended from the Northern side of what is today Boiler Bay to the *south side of the outer harbor, now known as South Point. Charles and Minnie resided on the land until their deaths. The DePoe’s would be the last Siletz Indians to own the land that was inhabited by their people for generations. The land that was to become known as Depoe Bay—a name finally accepted by Oregonians.

Depoe Bay officially became a city on May 22, 1973; at that time 450 people lived in the city’s borders.

A crowd of people staring with curiosity at a dead octopus on the side of a road was the inspiration for the opening of one of the first businesses in Depoe Bay. This was The Depoe Bay Aquarium, built in 1927 by H. L. Collins, one of the city’s founders. It was the first aquarium to be built in Oregon and until its closure on Labor Day 1998, was reportedly the oldest privately owned aquarium in the United States. Throughout the years octopuses remained one of the main attractions of the aquarium, specimens being captured by the proprietors from as far away as the caves on the Olympic peninsula. Local fishermen furnished most of the other live specimens, some of them unidentifiable. The aquarium also furnished specimens to other aquariums, once sending a live octopus to Norwich, Connecticut. It also served as a rehabilitation center for harbor seals and sea lions and other sea creatures, a custodian once feeding six baby sharks with eyedroppers full of fruit juice. The seals and sea lions became the real crowd-pleasers, performing antics while swimming around in their tiled pool, and applauding themselves in an attempt to get more food. In 1998, John Woodmark, then owner of the Aquarium, claimed all of their animals were over twenty years old. One seal, Oscar, who was named after the man who brought him in, lived to be thirty-seven years old and at one time was the oldest living seal ever recorded.

Whale Watching

Today, whale watching is a huge attraction native to the entire Oregon Coast region. Especially popular is the Whale Watching Center, an Oregon State Parks staffed visitor center in Depoe Bay. The WWC exists to help visitors observe whale migration and provide information about whales and other marine mammals including history, economics, and their environmental and ecological influences. Approximately 18,000 whales migrate southward past the center from mid-December to end of January each year. The same number migrate northward, but are distributed throughout mid-March through the first week of June.

Gray Whales are the most commonly sighted whales year round along the Oregon Coast. Prime viewing is during the migration seasons of December through January and March through June. July will bring summer feeding whales with peak viewing August through October. Summer is when the whales are the closest to shore. Other types of whales observed near Depoe Bay are Humpbacks, Minkes, Orca, and sometimes Sperm and Blue whale.

There are approximately one thousand five hundred unique whale individuals observed from the center each year. Winter migration brings the highest concentration of whales, with 18,000 passing Oregon from the last week of December through the first week of February, but winter also brings stormy conditions. Good viewing conditions make it possible to see up to thirty whales an hour but winter weather can make observation difficult and the rough seas usually cause the whales to travel farther from shore. Spring migration brings the whales closer to shore, from a half mile to three miles (5 km) out, and it also brings better viewing weather. The whales are less concentrated as juveniles, adults and mother/baby pairs travel at different times. The last week of March is usually the beginning of the migration past Oregon and continues through the first week of June. Mothers and calves are the slowest moving. Whales sometimes spend the summer here instead of traveling to the Arctic. They feed on the clouds of crustaceans (Mysidacea) which hover around the kelp beds. Summer whales feed very close to shore; the best viewing is August through October.

The center is free to enter, has binoculars for public use, and is out of the weather.

In 1975, the fishing trip sequence in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was filmed in Depoe Bay.

For more information on activities in and around Depoe Bay, Oregon, visit:

• Travel Oregon - The Coast
• Newport Tourism
• Wakonda Beach State Airport
• Cleft Of the Rock Lighthouse
• Yachats Community Info
• Camp Perpetua Scenic Area
• Oregon Whale Watching Center
• Oregon Coast Visitor's Information
• Oregon Parks' Whale Watching Center
• Lincoln Visitor's Center
• Tillamook Forest Center
• Waldport Heritage Museum
• City of Depoe Bay, OR
• Lincoln County, OR
• Lincoln City Chamber of Commerce
• The State of Oregon
• Depoe Bay, OR Real Estate Summary on IDCide (Local Info Data Server)
• Depoe Bay, OR on CityTownInfo.com
• Depoe Bay, OR Google Earth Map
• View Depoe Bay, OR Area Jobs on Career Builder
• View Depoe Bay, OR Area Jobs on Yahoo HotJobs
• Depoe Bay, Oregon on Wikipedia.com
• Depoe Bay, Oregon on epodunk

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