Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

Address 244 Robert Gray Dr, Ilwaco, WA 98624

The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center at Cape Disappointment State Park tells the story of the Corps of Discovery's arrival at the Pacific in November 1805, using the journals of Lewis and Clark as a primary source. The exhibits trace the entire journey from St Louis to the coast, with particular attention to the final weeks when the expedition camped in the Long Beach area debating where to spend the winter.

Cape Disappointment itself — the rocky headland at the south end of the peninsula — was named by British fur trader John Meares in 1788 when fog prevented him from finding the river mouth he was seeking. The park contains two lighthouses (one of the oldest on the West Coast), trails along dramatic sea cliffs, and access to the mouth of the Columbia River. The interpretive center is at the south end of the peninsula, about 20 minutes from Long Beach town.

things to do museum sight
A story
The Lewis and Clark expedition reached the Pacific Ocean in November 1805 after 18 months and over 8,000 miles of travel from St Louis. Clark's journal entry for 18 November 1805 reads simply: "Ocean in view! O! the joy." The expedition camped near the south end of the Long Beach Peninsula for several weeks, debating by vote whether to winter on the north or south side of the Columbia — a vote in which Sacagawea and York, a enslaved man, both participated, making it one of the earliest democratic votes in North American history to include women and Black people.