Fort Stevens Historic Area — Attraction in Astoria

River/Oceanfront, WWII Battle Site and Museum

You can sign up for a Kayak tour (do so a couple days in advance) on one of the lakes inside the park. There are daily Junior Ranger programs led by rangers and nightly programs or movies. There are bicycles to rent on six miles of bike paths. There is a weekly bird watching tour (Ranger Dane), a must for beginner or pro. Additionally, Ranger Dane does mushroom tours in the fall and can likely answer any mushroom question you have pertaining to Oregon mushrooms.

Though sometimes overlooked, there is a historic fort (Fort Stevens) dating to the Civil War. Additionally, other fortifications (Battery Russel) were attacked by Japanese submarine fire during WWII. The fort served as a strategic outpost for the United States’ Coastal Artillery Corps.

Fort Stevens Historical Quest. Take a one mile hike through the historic ruins and along the Columbia River and find some Fort Stevens “treasures”. Follow clues to get letters which you will fill in on the last page to spell out the location of the hidden treasure box at the end. Get the directions for the quest online or printed at the park. The quest is available online at the Friends of Old Fort Stevens web page. Printed copies of the quest may be obtained at the Historic Fort Stevens museum and gift shop or at the Fort Stevens State Park Ranger Station. Complete your Quest/Adventure a get a small prize at the museum.

There are several different tours available. There are occasional free interpretive tours of the grounds and fortifications around the museum. Check in advance for tour scheduling. There are ticketed and guided truck tours. The trucks look like something a WWII soldier might have traveled in. There is also a tour of one of the few underground batteries left in the world - Battery Mischler. Check in advance for tour scheduling.

The Fort Stevens museum and gift shop are moderate sized, but well stocked and the volunteers are very informative and helpful. Major items at the gift shop include Oregon State Park merchandise such as patches and stickers representing Fort Stevens, Ecola, Oswald West, Nehalem Bay, Stub Stewart, and Cape Lookout.

There is also merchandise from the World War II and Civil War eras, mugs, t-shirts, and post cards. There are also some excellent scholarly, historical books on the historic fort and WWII. Lastly, the museum stocks a couple dozen choices of snacks such as candy and chips.

Admittance to the museum is free. The proceeds from firewood sold in the campground support the operation of Historic Fort Stevens.

Also, nearby Fort Clatsop (Lewis and Clark's winter encampment) and Cape Disappointment are well worth visiting.

Nearby Astoria (7-8 miles), the oldest town in Oregon, has great shops, restaurants, a winery (Shallon), the Goonies House, The Kindergarten Cop school, a Safeway, a maritime museum, a river...

Clean grounds with informative self tour of a military base vacated shortly after WWII.

You never think of the Columbia River as a strategic location that merits a full blown base to defend but it was considered a viable target in the day. A Japanese submarine commander thought the same and lobbed shells at it for 16 minutes during the Great War.

Stop at the Visitors Center and grab a map. Wear comfortable walking shoes and enjoy a couple of hours touring a time from the past.

There’s ample parking that can accommodate all sizes of vehicles including RVs.

If you’re a disc golf enthusiast, bring your discs and enjoy the challenging course. The variety of fairways is fantastic.

If a picnic is more your preference, there are picnic benches scattered throughout the park. Most are easy access to your parked car, a few others offer more seclusion and open air ambience.

Entry is $5.00 per vehicle per day unless you have an Annual Oregon Parks pass or are camping in the...

This park is wonderful. The miles of hiking trails are beautiful, there's elk everywhere. The fort has so much history and it's great that they've got open access to some of it. The mosquitos can sometimes get pretty bad but the park is taking steps to reduce them in the campground for their visitors. The beaches are always fun to walk or pick shells. The park also has the south betty of the Columbia River which has awesome views of Cape Disapointment Lighthouse in Washington as well as Tillamook Rock Lighthouse in Cannon Beach. I've seen whales offshore from the shipwreck as well! All in all a great park and I...