According to the Long Beach Visitors Bureau, nearly 2,000 ships have been wrecked off the coast of of the Long Beach Peninsula during the past 300 years. Before captains had global positioning satellite devices to guide them they could become confused as to where their ships were in relation to the shore, especially at night or during storms. The Columbia River bar situated off Long Beach was difficult to traverse and is likely to have caused numerous shipwrecks. A few ships can be viewed from shore in Long Beach including the Bettie M, Peter Iredale and the Admiral Benson. A trip to Benson Beach in Cape Disappointment State Park to see the wrecked ship and the park's other treasures is a worthwhile adventure. Other activities at the State Park include touring two lighthouses, exploring old military forts and wandering through coastal forests.
Long stretches of uninhabited beachfront dominate the Long Beach Peninsula. One of the many, but not so typical, activities that visitors to this area enjoy is horseback riding on the beach. Two businesses provide horses and trained professionals to lead groups on tours of Long Beach via horseback beach rides. While beach rides take only a few hours from start to finish, travelers looking for a longer horseback riding experience can take a half-day trek to Beard's Hollow, which takes riders over rolling hills and across scenic countryside.
Oysterville is a historic community on the Long Beach Peninsula. A desire for the region's oysters down in California caused a miniboom to occur in the mid-1800s and an entire town formed. While the town died out in 1893, 80 acres of the community was placed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Today, guests can see remnants of Oysterville's church, which was built in 1892, the homesite of James and Jane Johnson who were one of many Chinook Indian families to live in Oysterville, and a number of other houses, cottages and meadows. The Oysterville Schoolhouse and Courthouse sign are still visible, and much of the town feels as though it was preserved in time. The town is easy to walk through and provides a good half-day activity to enjoy on the Long Beach Peninsula.
