Description

Arago Books, 2003. Soft cover, 53 pp. Fourth Printing. In very good condition. Glossy illustrated paper covers have light bumping to edges and light overall scuffing. Binding tight. Pages clean and unmarked. NOT Ex-Library. NO remainder marks. Black and white illustrations, bibliography [From Introduction] The gulls cry and sweep against the wind and drift hauntingly over the fog-ridden cliffs. At sea, where the mist is impenetrable, the ocean roars as it leaps against Simpson Reef, six thousand miles of energy expended in crashing chords as foreign waters meet the continent. The spruce, the pines, the firs, twisted by the winds and rains into contorted forms, loom ominously in the gray mists and give testimony to their seashore home. Once the 1,600 acre estate of the Louis J. Simpson family, this cliffside site runs several miles along the southern Oregon coast near Coos Bay. Known to the Simpsons as Shore Acres, the properties are today part of the Oregon State Highway Commission's seashore park system. To these bluffs, coves, beaches, meadows, gardens and paths come each year thousands of tourists. Most know little about this highly popular place. Many wonder, when they stray from the cliff viewpoint, why formal gardens, stone lanterns and aging trees from homes on six continents are at Shore Acres. This account, written with the help of many hands, covers the history not only of the estate at Shore Acres but the conditions which made its building and development possible.