Today, a quiet shadow of its former glory, Nahcotta was once the norther terminus of the Ilwaco Railroad & Navigation Company rail line. A seaport, able to serve schooner traffic from San Francisco and other West Coast ports (as well as cross-bay traffic), it saw millions of native Willapa Bay oysters shipped in the mid-to-late-1800s to satisfy an increasing seafood demand. A fire in 1915 burned the bustling port town to ashes and decline oyster stocks turned a bustling town to a quaint village. Nahcotta is still the hub of the Peninsula’s oyster industry.

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