Every once in awhile I get a call from someone telling me that they have a group coming to Oysterville and asking if I could talk to them about the history of the village. Although the words ‘just say no’ invariably come to mind, I always seem to say yes. I think it’s my ego responding to the flattery of being asked – that and the fact that I always enjoy the experience.
Last month I spoke to 70 seventh graders from Sunnyside School in Portland – an environmental magnet school. Their focus was how humans affect and, in turn, are affected by their environment. I talked with them about Oysterville’s boom and decline as related to the prosperity and failure of the various oyster endeavors in Shoalwater (now Willapa) Bay. I thought the teachers had made the perfect choice of places to illustrate their theme and was only sorry that my book Oysterville was not yet available, as it deals with precisely the same topic. I did have an advanced copy which I gave to the program director. She thumbed through it and announced that it would be next year’s textbook! I can only hope.
This week I spoke to a group of senior citizens from Longview. Two of their group had been to Oysterville on their own, were charmed, and arranged for the entire group to come on a ‘field trip.’ As I usually do, I met the group in the church and talked with them about village history. They were a Baptist group and the frosting on the cake for them was learning that the historic old building (now ecumenical) in which they sat began its life as a Baptist Church. I very much enjoyed my time with them, including our follow-up ride around the village in their spiffy bus during which I talked to them over the microphone – just like ‘downtown!’
Tourists are a familiar sight in Oysterville, as are tour buses. According to the guest sign-in books at the church, we get ten to twenty thousand visitors to the village each year. Most, of course, are in the summer months and some days it seems like there is a steady stream into and out of the church – certainly more traffic each year nowadays than in all the years it served Oysterville’s Baptist congregation!
I attended Vespers at your Oysterville church over the July 4th weekend. What a lovely service. The music was exceptional. Sitting in the pew during the service, I could feel the spirits of those before me. There’s quite a bit of history in those walls.
Thank you.