Manzanita, Oregon

Manzanita is 40 miles south of Astoria, 15 miles south of Cannon Beach, 2 hours west of McMinnville and 200 miles north of Bandon on highway 101. Both towns have the cutest beach cottages! It is a much smaller town than Cannon Beach, but we fell in love with Manzanita beach….miles and miles of beach as far as the eye could see. 

The longest beach in Oregon

Manzanita has the largest beach we have ever seen in our life. From the base of Naehkahnie Mountain looking south as far as the eye can see is flat walkable beach. Dogs are allowed off lease and our yellow labrador would run until he dropped, exhausted. Walking for hours, we never reached the end of it.

The town has only 500 full time residents but during the summer it triples in size from all the visitors. This tourist haven offers restaurants, spas, galleries, vacation homes, small shopping and even a 9-hole golf course. 

The Legend of Lost Treasure

A long time legend told by many locals is of the hidden treasure buried on Naehkahnie Mountain that goes like this: “In the sixteenth century, Spanish sailors beached their ship on Manzanita beach as it had been involved in gunfire with another ship. They carried a large treasure chest up Neahkahnie Mountain and buried it. An African slave from their party was killed and laid on top to “guard” the treasure and frighten away the local Indians. The Indians were friendly, generous, and peaceful, welcoming the strangers to their village, offering food and helping the men to obtain shelter for the coming winter. The white men took food, land and other belongings from the Indians and offered Venereal disease, measles and violence in return. When the sailors began to violate the Indian women, a council was held among the Clatsops, the Tillamook, and the Nehalems. One autumn morning before dawn, 1,500 Indian warriors crept into the camp of the white men and set fire to their dwellings. As the sailors ran from the blazing camp, the Indians killed them all. The white men were buried in a huge mound near the place where the Spanish treasure and African slave were buried. It is said after this massacre, the river ran red with blood for 3 days. The Indians, because of their reverence for the dead, never disturbed the burial place of the sailors, and because of their fear of reprisal as the white presence grew in Oregon, refrained from talking about the massacre. Because of their fear of the ”black demon” African slave, they never dug up the huge chest the sailors buried on their beach. To this day, no one is sure what was in the chest, but many believe that the ship was a Spanish pirate ship and the chest contained a fortune in gold.” 

Considerable evidence supports the assumption of buried treasure near Neahkahnle. In addition to the Indian legend, there are records of Spanish ships, loaded with treasure gained in raids on South American cities, sailing northward from Peru, never to be heard of again. Mysterious markings carved into the rocks on Neahkahnie Mountain could hold the key to the location of the treasure. Stone walls, masonry and giant mounds of rocks placed in the shape of an inverted “W” with a base nearly a mile long have been discovered by treasure hunters near Neahkahnie. If the treasure is there, it has eluded an army of treasure hunters, most of whom come to Neahkahnie with a hunch, a shovel, wheelbarrow or metal detectors. A few have come with bulldozers and backhoes. Five people were killed when their 30-foot deep hole caved in on them in 1931. Some say that the treasure is there, but it will never be found. They believe that the ghosts of the black giant and his evil companions still guard the treasure of Neahkahnie and that they will keep the treasure hidden forever.

Spanish archives list 33 ships sailing from Manila Galleon route (Mexico to the Philippines) were lost along this route. Five possible galleons from this list were possible shipwrecks at the base of Naehkahnie Mountain were: the San Juanillolost in 1578; the San Juanlost in 1586; the San Antoniolost in 1603; the San Francisco Xavierknown to carry beeswax which sailed in 1705; and the San Josein 1769.