Seaview House Tour

I love the Long Beach Peninsula and I love old houses. The Long Beach Peninsula is one of the best places to enjoy gazing at houses of the past. Whenever my daughter-in-law Ana is here she always asks if we can go and look at houses. We are working to make our house beautiful, but have a long way to go. Lorraine mentioned enjoying virtual getaways through the travels of the Blog Squad so I took a morning to take pictures of some of my favorite houses on the Peninsula.

From the mouth of the Columbia River at Ilwaco to Oysterville at the Northern tip, the Long Beach Peninsula is a treasure trove of old Victorian houses and cottages. Perhaps my bias lays in the fact that I grew up spending summers in Seaview and thus am familiar with it, but I believe that more sweet houses are there than elsewhere. Most of these pictures were taken in Seaview. Another time I will drive up to Oysterville which is a snapshot of the past.


I love Doug Firs and Seaview is filled with houses and cottages tucked amongst ancient trees.

This house has a fence similar to what we are putting in. I want three of these arbors. I want a flag pole, too, where I can fly the American flag my father flew at his home.



Given my druthers I would have gone for a natural fence such as this. I like overgrown garden, which a British friend of mine calls a “stuffed garden.” The vinyl fence was my husband’s idea. If I plant enough flowers around it maybe it will fade to the background!


This is where the Republican family on the Long Beach Peninsula lives. I won’t say they are actually the only Republicans on the Peninsula, but while Obama and Gregoire signs abound, they have the only Rossi sign. He spoke there last week. My mother (who thinks she’s a Republican) jokes that Republican caucuses are held in a phone booth. Shows you what she knows. There are no phone booths here anymore.


For most of my life this has been my favorite house in the world. It has been the summer home of a Portland family for as long as I can remember and always been painted in these colors. I’ve never been inside.


This is my mother’s lifelong favorite. Most houses here have names and this one is the Sand Castle. When I was a child it was painted in primary colors and looked as if a giant child had built it and then gone off to play on the beach. It needs paint, but it is a constant fight against the elements and moss on the coast.














I love porches and this house has a dandy one.

This is the Shelburne Inn in Seaview. A very old hotel that was comfortably shabby in the 1970s was purchased by a local lad who spruced it up and added a gourmet restaurant and bar.


There is artwork in unexpected places.


And all in the interpretation.


This sweet cottage has pretty pink climbing roses along the roof line, but it was a gray day, as so many are, and the color of the baby pink roses looks faded. I like the starfish.


This tiny cottage has become my new favorite. Called the Shoe Box, it appears to have sprung from the ground.


I hope you’ve had a good time. Bye!