Columbia River Maritime Museum

About

The Columbia River Maritime Museum sits on the Astoria waterfront at the point where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean—the so-called 'Graveyard of the Pacific,' where over 2,000 ships have been lost to the treacherous Columbia River Bar since European exploration began. The museum tells the story of this dynamic and dangerous waterway through world-class maritime collections and hands-on technology. The museum's 37,000-square-foot facility houses an extensive collection of historic vessels, rescue equipment, navigation instruments, and Pacific Northwest fishing culture artifacts. The signature exhibit is the pilot house and bridge of the Columbia, a Coast Guard cutter stationed at Astoria for decades, where visitors can handle actual navigation controls and experience the role of professional mariners on this challenging bar crossing. A 25-foot Coast Guard motor lifeboat—the type used in high-surf rescue operations—hangs in its own dramatic gallery. The museum's small craft collection spans Native American dugout canoes, traditional Pacific Northwest fishing vessels, and Coast Guard rescue boats, representing every era of river and ocean use. The Columbia River fishing industry—which at its peak in the late 1800s employed tens of thousands and canned more salmon than any other place on earth—is documented through artifacts, photographs, and oral histories from cannery workers and fishing families. Docked adjacent to the museum is the Lightship Columbia, a retired Coast Guard lightship that served as a floating lighthouse on the Columbia Bar and is now a National Historic Landmark visitors can tour. Education programs for school groups are available, and the museum offers reduced admission through the Museums for All program.

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