The captivating Bandon Historical Society Museum, at the corner of U.S. 101 and Fillmore Street (270 Fillmore St., 541/347-2164, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Mon.–Sat., $2 adults, kids free), in Bandon’s former city hall, traces the history of the Coquille people and their forebears. The chronology continues with the steamers and the railroads that brought in white settlers. One room is devoted to Bandon’s unofficial standing as the cranberry capital of Oregon. Black-and-white photos showing women stooping over in the bogs to harvest the ripe berries are captioned with such quips as this classic from an overseer: “I had 25 women picking for me, and I knew every one by her fanny.” Color photos spanning five decades of Cranberry Festival princesses also adorn the walls.

Another room depicts Bandon’s Resort Years, 1900–1931, when the town was called the “Playground of the Pacific.” The most compelling exhibits in the museum deal with shipwrecks and the fires of 1914 and 1936.