NESKOWIN, Ore. — Our hero goes by the name Charley Gage, who may or may not have been a 19th century sailor of the high seas.
The lady of our tale is Della Page, daughter of a homesteading family that tended a farm along Neskowin Creek on the Oregon Coast.
The details are light — and change depending on the source, as legend mixes with fact — but what’s important is that one day in the late 1800s, these star-crossed lovers headed out to a basalt sea stack above the Pacific Ocean and decided to get married.
Della’s mother was so thrilled she named the prominent landmark “Proposal Rock,” a moniker that endures to this day.
How much of this legend is true is up for debate, according to the Tillamook Historical Society, but the allure of the landmark certainly is not.
Proposal Rock has become a place associated with romance and popping that most important of questions.
“We do have a lot of people who come out here to get engaged, and we do have weddings on the beach or at homes in town quite a bit,” said John Forsythe, manager of Proposal Rock Inn, who said his daughter was engaged on the beach.
That local legend has put the blink-and-you-miss-it hamlet of Neskowin on the map, and contributes to its tourist economy, is a nice story. But the stretch of beach here offers far more than just a place to stroll hand-in-hand with your betrothed.
In fact, I’d say this stretch of beach is more fit for adventure than romance.
For example, reaching the top of Proposal Rock a la Charley and Della isn’t exactly easy. At low tide, it requires scrambling up a very steep and muddy trail through spruce, alder, salal and salmonberry. Although views at the top are excellent — and there’s a sensation of standing atop of floating forest — you’ll likely get dirty and scratched up in the process.
And there are the tides to consider. Apparently, a handful of lovers have been trapped upon the rock when waves rolled back in.
Most people begin at the Neskowin Beach State Recreation Site, a parking area with a trail following Neskowin Creek as it glides through the sand and onto the beach.
Once you’re on the beach, Proposal Rock is impossible to miss. Shaped like a top-hat with green stalks sticking out the top, the scramble to the top is easy to find from its base.
