In One Ear

Washaway Beach

by

Joe Granger

 

Located south of Grayland, Washington in the neighborhood of what local people call North Cove, is a vast area of pre-dune land called Washaway Beach. Its several miles of coastland has been washing away at the rate of 150 feet average per year since the late 1800s, but the erosion occurs in fits and starts. Many attempts at trying to stop it have had limited (if any) success other than to save the State Highway 105 from extinction.
 

I recall the old stretch of Highway 105 that even had a sand/gravel storage site (“Maintenance Site”) on it that is now about a quarter mile out in the water. It was about that time that my parents bought a nice single wide mobile home on two platted lots on nearby Seamobile Lane.

 

They had to sign several documents that they knew the property was likely to wash away in the near future. And for this acknowledgement, they got the property for a very good price. They immediately built a large deck on its seaward side … located about 300 feet from the high tide mark. The only erosion occurring in their immediate vicinity was bout 100 feet over the next 10 or so years, so they were lucky.
 

What a view and what a pleasure to recreate and vacate at this property! They enjoyed it nearly every weekend throughout the year. Even the winters there were fun. Good times for them and for all us kids and grandkids.
 

Then about 11 years after purchase, their mobile home was broken into and ransacked. That, plus a quick 100 foot erosion, set them to put it up for sale. Another older couple bought it and paid what Mom and Dad had invested in it.

 

Sadly, the couple who bought it had a downturn in health (cancer), so they only got to enjoy about 2 years of its use. Then, the erosion accelerated and took the entirety of Seamobile Lane and all the trailers and cabins located thereon.

Mom and Dad later bought two other properties in the area for very cheap prices so they could camp at Washaway Beach…they too were eventually washed away. But Mom and Dad loved it so down there that they never regretted anything about their Washaway Beach purchases. 
 

Dad passed in 2011 and mom has dementia and is in a rest home (she turns 98 this month). I try to visit Washaway Beach at least once a year to reminisce. Though their places there are gone, I look out to sea and find them both as they were.

 

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