Bayocean was a planned resort community founded in 1906 on a sand spit at the entrance to Tillamook Bay, located about 63 miles (102 km) west of Portland and 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Tillamook, Oregon. The spit measures 4 miles (6.5 km) long and 0.5 miles (0.8 km) wide and separates Tillamook Bay from the Pacific Ocean. The community boasted many features uncommon for small towns of its time: a dance hall, a hotel with an orchestra, a natatorium, a 1,000-seat movie theater, a shooting range, a bowling alley, tennis courts, a rail system, and 4 miles (6.5 km) of paved streets.

Bayocean was not accessible by road or rail until the 1920s. Initially, residents and tourists arrived by steamship, a three-day journey from Portland. The entry into Tillamook Bay is notoriously difficult, so Bayocean residents requested the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct a protective jetty to reduce the waves. The Corps recommended that two jetties be built, one on each side of the bay entrance, to make the crossing safe and protect against shifting sand. However, the multimillion-dollar cost was deemed unaffordable. As a compromise, a single jetty was constructed on the north side in 1917. This one-sided change to the coastline initiated a process of beach erosion.

By 1926, the ocean had begun to undermine the foundation of the natatorium. In 1932, waves from a massive storm crossed the beach and destroyed the building. Severe erosion of the spit occurred during winter storms in 1939, 1942, and 1948. By 1952, Bayocean had become an island. What little remained of the town was demolished during a reclamation and dike-building project in 1956. In 1960, the last Bayocean house washed away. The final remaining structure, a garage, fell into the ocean in 1971. Read more here and here. Explore more of Bayocean and Tillamook Bay here: