| Manhattan Beach State Recreation Site | |
|---|---|
 Path to the beach | |
   | |
| Type | Public, state |
| Location | Tillamook County,Oregon |
| Nearest city | Rockaway Beach |
| Coordinates | 45°38′34″N123°56′29″W / 45.642883°N 123.941523°W /45.642883; -123.941523[1] |
| Area | 41 acres (17 ha) |
| Operated by | Oregon Parks and Recreation Department |
| Status | Day use, year-round |
Manhattan Beach State Recreation Site is astate park in theU.S. state ofOregon. Administered by theOregon Parks and Recreation Department, the park is open to the public and is fee-free. Amenities at the park, which is 2 miles (3 km) north ofRockaway Beach alongU.S. Route 101, include picnicking, fishing, and a Pacific Ocean beach.[2]
The entrance road from the highway leads across tracks of theSouthern Pacific Railroad to a site with coastal vegetation, picnic tables, andrestrooms. Although the park occupies only 41 acres (17 ha), its beach forms part of a 7-mile (11 km) stretch of public beaches betweenTillamook Bay on the south andNehalem Bay on the north. Seastacks called the Twin Rocks can be seen offshore to the south near the community ofTwin Rocks. TheOregon Coast Trail passes through the park.[3]
Oregon Geographic Names (OGN) says that the nameManhattan Beach "strongly savors of real-estate activity". ThePacific Railway & Navigation Company, which opened a rail line through a nearby summer resort in 1912, named its train station "Manhattan Beach". Theunincorporated community ofManhattan Beach had a post office between 1914 and 1975. In 1926, the postmaster wrote that promoters chose the name because Manhattan Beach, Oregon, was a watering place.OGN says the name might be "particularly inappropriate" considering that a native American word forManhattan Island inNew York probably meant "place of drunkenness" and that "no one gets drunk in Oregon, certainly not in watering places. No indeed."[4][5]
