Westport area Museums & Lighthouse

Experience four unique historical attractions!

Westport Maritime Museum

Experience Westport Maritime history at the original U.S. Coast Guard station!

Westport is steeped in maritime history and has been designated as an official Coast Guard City USA. On your visit to Westport, visit the Westport Maritime Museum, which showcases exhibits on the maritime history of the South Beach. You won't want to miss one of the most spectacular exhibits at the museum, a working first-order Fresnel lighthouse lens from the Destruction Island Lighthouse, located 57 miles north of Westport.

Plan your visit today!

Grays Harbor Lighthouse

Visit the tallest lighthouse in Washington State!

Westport is home to the Grays Harbor Lighthouse. At 107 feet tall, the Grays Harbor Lighthouse is the tallest in Washington State. The Westport South Beach Historical Society offers tours of the lighthouse. You can climb the 135 steps leading up to the lantern room while learning about the lighthouse's history and taking in a 360° view of Westport and the Pacific Ocean.

Plan your visit today!

International Mermaid Museum

The International Mermaid Museum is dedicated to teaching ocean ecology from seashore to sea floor immersed in mermaid mythology unifying oceanic cultures.

Three quarters of the world is covered with water. Yet the undersea experience is largely unavailable for most to explore. This exhibition offers unique insights into life between the seashore and the sea floor. 

Ocean ecology wrapped in the mythology of mermaids creates a vivid and inviting learning opportunity for all ages and abilities.

Plan your visit today!

The Cranberry Museum

The Museum was built by the Finnish Community in 1933. Used early on as a social hall it later became a dehydrating building for berries shipped overseas to servicemen. The goal was to keep our soldiers morale up during the war when they couldn't be home for Thanksgiving.

In 1946, Ocean Spray took over the building that now houses the museum and built an additional building to house and dehydrate the cranberries. It continued at the Grayland property until 1950. It now is located in Markham.

An entrepreneur then purchased the property. Julius Furford was a man with many ideas. The Furford Picker. Invented by Julius in 1957, it is still in production today. The Furford Picker can be found on both the West and East coasts as well as Internationally. Julius passed away in 1999 at the age of 91. He was still inventing and creating new ideas and filed other patents.

The Cranberry Museum was first opened in 1986 by Julius Furford to store his collection of early cranberry farming tools. The museum closed in 1994 due to poor health.

1999 brought about a new change as David Furford continued the museum for several years. In 2012 Gwen Tjernberg reopened the museum and her husband Chuck, restarted the Furford manufacturing of the Furford Picker. 

2021 brings new changes of ownership once again. A gift shop called the CranZberry is now home inside the museum. The CranZberry offers unique gifts, many made here in the USA.

All purchases help keep the lights on and doors open.

Plan your visit today!