City of Tillamook

Cape Meares Lighthouse stands 217 feet above the ocean 10 miles west of Tillamook in Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint on the Three Capes Scenic Route. It was completed in 1890 and lovingly restored by volunteers in recent years. Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint and National Wildlife Refuge encompasses 233 acres and is open daily.

The Latimer Quilt and Textile Center is a museum and living arts center. It is housed in the restored 1930s Maple Leaf schoolhouse and features exhibits of vintage and contemporary textiles. It also is an active place for the creation of textile arts, complete with classrooms and a resource library. It is located at 2105 Wilson River Loop Road a short distance from U.S. Highway 101.

Munson Creek Falls tumbles 319 feet, making it the tallest waterfall in the Coast Range. A trail system winds through the hills to the waterfall. This park is home to ancient western red cedar and Sitka spruce. The creek is an important salmon spawning ground. The park is located off U.S. Highway 101, about six miles south of Tillamook.

See one of America's finest collections of over 30 War Birds including a P-38 Lightning, F4U-Corsair, P51-Mustang, PBY Catalina and SBD Dauntless dive bomber. Climb into a jet simulator. Have lunch at a '40s-'50s Café. Enjoy the aviation gift shop. It is all housed in a rare World War II Blimp Hangar – the largest wooden structure in the world! The Air Museum is located just south of Tillamook off U.S. Highway 101.

The Tillamook County Creamery Association plant visitor center attracts upwards of 1 million people a year. Visitors can observe cheese packaging operations from an observation platform and take a self-guided tour of cheese making. At the end of the tour, visitors can taste free samples of cheese.

The County Fairgrounds is not only home to the Tillamook County Fair in August, widely regarded as one of the best old-time county fairs in Oregon, it also is the site of dozens of events throughout the year. It is located a little over a mile from the downtown area on 3rd Street.

Tillamook operates six scenic parks, some with campsites, and 10 recreation areas.

The Tillamook County Pioneer Museum has a huge collection of information on the area, its history and its people. The three-story museum is a piece of local history, too. It was built in 1905 and served as the county courthouse for 30 years. Among its most popular attractions are a replica of a blacksmith shop and a forest fire lookout station. The research library has many shelves full of historical information, with more than 3,000 volumes. The museum is located in the heart of downtown Tillamook at 2106 2nd Street.

Throughout the summer, the streets framed by Tillamook City Hall, the Pioneer Museum and the County Courthouse, are alive with music, crafts and fresh local foods and produce at the weekly Tillamook Farmers' Market. The market operates Saturdays from June through September.

Off State Route 6, 22 miles east of Tillamook in the Tillamook State Forest, is the Tillamook Forest Center. This 13,500-square-foot facility is dedicated to the splendor and history of this magnificent forest. It has an interpretive center with classrooms, a theater and a forest archive. Outdoors, interpretive trails lead through the woods to breathtaking river and forest views. Center visitors can explore the past, present and future of the forest. Admission is free.

Tillamook County is home to a number of state parks. Visit the Web site for maps and descriptions.

Covering more than 350,000 acres of mountainous terrain east of Tillamook, the Tillamook State Forest is a remarkable achievement. It is a man-made forest planted after a serioes of disastrous fires between 1933 and 1951 destroyed nearly every tree on those mountains.

In the years after the fires, foresters, professional tree planters and volunteers worked painstakingly to reestablish the forest and its many resources. Oregon voters passed a constitutional amendment in 1948 authorizing $12 million in bonds to rehabilitate the land. The long reforestation project, the largest ever undertaken, began in 1949. In total, 72 million seedlings were planted.

The new Tillamook State Forest is a place of hope. Decades of investment and hard work are beginning to pay off. Harvests of some timber are providing revenue and jobs. Healthy fish and wildlife populations have returned and the forest is enjoyed by campers, hikers, anglers, off-highway vehicle enthusiasts and horseback riders.