Bandon, Oregon

Bandon Dunes, a golfers dream

Every golf fanatic has probably wanted to go to Bandon Dunes and has it on their bucket list. My husband did and for months he organized his trip, ordering new gear from Rock Bottom Golf, his favorite go-to-golf store. It is located 3 hours north of Ashland and 5 hours south from Cannon Beach.  

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is a complex of five golf courses located just north of the city of Bandon. This is where Carl will be at for the next few days in his glory of golf, with all of his new gear from Rock Bottom Golf. Four of the five golf courses are regulation length and the other is a short 13-hole par 3 course. The championship courses, Bandon Dunes, Old Macdonald, Pacific Dunes, and Bandon Trails are the top four courses in Oregon. Bandon Dunes is a true links-style golf course, with beautiful ocean views, true golf elements of wind, rain and cold. It’s a nice, easy walk with a caddy(a caddy is a course requirement). However, the elements make it a difficult course no matter which one you play.

Bandon’s history

The small town of Bandon located directly on the Oregon Coast is full of restaurants, shops and art galleries. We had the best clam chowder at Tony’s Crab Shack, right on the harbor pier. Bandon was named by Lord George Bennet, an Irishman, who settled nearby in 1873 and named the town after Bandon in Ireland, his hometown. Bennett introduced a spiny plant, gorse, into the local area, which in the following decades went wild and became a nuisance in both the town and in the neighboring countryside. Gorse grows so thickly a person cannot walk through it and it is also a very oily plant, which easily catches fire. In 1936, a forest fire several miles east of town, ignited the town’s abundant gorse and became engulfed in flames, burning the entire commercial district with a loss of $3 million and 11 fatalities. Firefighters found that burning gorse reacted to having water squirted on it like a kitchen grease fire—it simply spread burning gorse everywhere. There is still gorse in Bandon today, but municipal codes strictly regulate how high and thick it may be allowed to get. Today, the population is over 3,000, but grows dramatically in the summer months. ​

Cranberries – produced in Bandon

Bandon is the center of Cranberries production. More than 100 growers harvest about 1,600 acres around Bandon, accounting for about 95 percent of Oregon’s cranberries, and about 5 percent of the nation. Production averages about 30 million pounds of berries when harvested in the fall. Between 1928 and 2000, dairy production and cheese making were an integral part of Bandon’s economy. The Bandon facility was damaged in the fire of 1936, and rebuilt as the Surfside Dairy in 1937. In 2000, Tillamook County Creamery bought the Bandon Cheese brand and promptly dismantled the factory; but the Bandon Cheese name lives on as a brand of Tillamook Cheese.

Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge

The Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge has a path along the cliffs that is extremely well maintained and 145-degree views down the entire coastline. This refuge consists of six National Wildlife Refuges along the Oregon Coast, providing protection to thousands of small islands, rocks, reefs, headlands, marshes, and bays totaling 371 acres spanning 320 miles of Oregon’s coastline. The areas are all managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The six National Wildlife Refuges—three marines, and three estuarine—are from Tillamook Head south to the California/Oregon border. The marine refuges are Three Arch Rocks, Oregon Islands, and Cape Meares. The estuaries are Bandon Marsh, Nestucca Bay and Siletz Bay. Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge is renowned among bird watches for being able to view rare shorebirds including Ruff, Hudsonian Gofwit and Plover. The refuge was last expanded in 1999, it now has 889 acres in two units: Bandon Marsh and Ni-les’tun.

The Story of Table & Face Rock

Bandon is known for its beaches and rock formations, including Table Rock and Face Rock. Face Rock is a large sea stack of resistant rock which carries an American Indian legend about this spot. Locals say a maiden’s voice can be heard in the wind, and standing on the cliff overlooking the ocean you can easily pick out the face on Face Rock. The Nah-So-Mah Tribe tells the story like this: “The beautiful Indian princess, Ewanua, was visiting tribes on the coast with her father, Chief Siskiyou. In celebration of their visit, a great potlatch took place. The local tribes were in great fear of Seatka, the evil spirit of the ocean, but Ewanua and those in her tribe, who lived in the mountains, were not afraid. After the feast, while others lay sleeping, Ewanua carried her dog, Komax, and her cat and kittens in a basket and wandered down to the ocean. She danced and played with delight, and soon placed her pets in their basket on the beach and swam into the ocean, far from shore. Unaware of any danger, she was suddenly grabbed by a fearsome creature that came out of the water. Komax, knowing his mistress was in danger, swam out to her with the basket in his mouth and bit Seatka. Howling with rage, the monster kicked off the dog and threw the cat and kittens far out to sea. He tried to get the princess to look at him, but she refused, knowing his power was in his eyes. Now, the beautiful Ewanua lies in the ocean, looking skyward, refusing to look at Seatka, who sits nearby. Her beloved Komax and her cat and kittens lie to the west, waiting in vain for their mistress to arise.”

Coquille River Lighthouse

The Coquille River Lighthouse foghorn calls all day and can be faintly heard as you walk the streets of Bandon. Originally named “Bandon Light”, Coquille River Lighthouse was first lit on February 29, 1896, the light guided mariners past the dangerous shifting sandbars into the Coquille River and harbor at Bandon. From 1936, the town soon became bankrupt as a result of the decline in shipping. Coquille Light was shut down in 1939 and replaced by an automated light on the south jetty. The light was originally built with a trumpet for its foghorn, which was used as the light’s fog signal for several years. However, at certain times due to specific weather conditions, the sound of the trumpet would fail, and in 1910 the trumpet was replaced by a more reliable fog siren. While mariners liked the new signal, many Bandon residents did not. The siren would eventually be removed along with the Fresnel lens after the light’s decommissioning. Over the next 37 years, the condition of the light deteriorated due to neglect and vandalism, until 1976, when its first major restoration began. However, by this time, the keeper’s quarters and other outbuildings had deteriorated past the point of repair and were eventually removed. In 1991, a new solar-powered light was installed in the tower. Renovations in 2011 eventually occurred, restoring it as close to its current condition as possible.