A real cottage industry

Neskowin’s historic village tour turns 40

By Jordan Wolfe

For the TODAY

The Bent Shoebox, Green Dragon and Breakers End might sound like places out of a fantasy novel, but they are the very real names of homes in the quaint village of Neskowin — and might just be featured in an event two years in the making.

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the Neskowin Cottage Walk, an event held every other year, offering tours through some of the beachside town’s unique, historical homes. The full roster is kept secret until the day of the event, set this year for Saturday, July 11.

Tickets give guests access to nine historical properties on a numbered, self-guided tour in the village between Breakers Boulevard and Hawk Street, along with a souvenir booklet to collect stamps along the way.

“It’s an opportunity to invite people in to see behind the fences and the painted front doors of the cottages in Neskowin,” said Diane Hames, Cottage Walk planning committee member.

The oldest building that guests will be able to tour is Breakers End. At nearly a century old, the property began its life as one of Neskowin’s bathhouses in the 1920s and was converted to a home in the 1940s. 

“A lot of these homes are restored and kind of kept in their original, or very close to their original, state as far as the woodworking and stuff,” Hames said, “So when they refurbish them, they don’t modernize them necessarily, they keep them very much the same character and construction methods.”

Painstakingly preserving the character of some of these cottages has led to many of them transcending the typical view of a house for those residing in them, according to Hames.

“Some of the homeowners that we’ve talked to refer to themselves not as the homeowners but as the current custodians of the home and they are preserving it for their children and their grandchildren,”

Each of the historic homes has a story and guests will have an opportunity to learn about each of this year’s featured ones from the informational booklet and also directly from the homeowners themselves or one of the event’s volunteers.

“Some of the homes, you might enter through the front door and there's the original home, but then two generations back, they added a bedroom here or an art studio there,” Hames said. “So that would be part of the history that they take you through.”

Most of the featured homes on the 2026 Cottage Walk were built in the 1920s through the 1940s and the newest home was built in 1968. It is called the Tea House.

“They built it off of a set of plans that were out of a catalog for a Japanese teahouse,” Hames said. “So, when you look at it and you know that, you see the design inspiration of the house.”

Cottage Walk planning committee member Kristen Shelley said that the event strengthens the sense of community in the village.

“Being a homeowner here and living here for years and years, you walk around and are like, ‘Oh, I wonder what that house looks like inside; that's so cute, the garden is amazing,’” she said. “And then when you get a chance to actually see what it looks like inside, it's actually really fun.”

The Cottage Walk involves a group of roughly 35 volunteers, according to Shelley, who will all also be present to help guide and inform visitors on the day of the event. Parking will be available at several lots near the entrance to Neskowin and overflow will be available across Highway 101 at the lot where the farmers market is held.

Proceeds from the walk will go directly to the non-profit Neskowin Community Association for the betterment of Neskowin and the surrounding area. Previous uses for those funds include money for the Neskowin Farmers Market, local schools, improved beach access and food pantries.

Hames is most excited to see Neskowin at its best and to offer visitors a peek at a different world.

“For people that are, let's say, ‘curious’ on what a life on the Oregon Coast would look like, this is an opportunity to see how at least some Neskowiners are doing it,” she said.

Saturday’s Neskowin Cottage Walk is from 11 am to 4 pm. Tickets are $35 per person. Children older than six are welcomed to attend but require their own ticket. No dogs, please. For more information and advance tickets, go to 2026-neskowin-cottage-walk-108996.square.site.