Charleston, Oregon | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 43°20′24″N 124°19′48″W / 43.34000°N 124.33000°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Oregon |
County | Coos |
Elevation | 102 ft (31 m) |
Population (
2000)670 | |
• Total | 795 |
Time zone | UTC-8 ( Pacific (PST)) |
• Summer ( DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
ZIP codes | 97420 |
Area code | 541 |
GNIS feature ID | 1136140 |
Charleston ( Coos: Milukwich [2]) is an unincorporated community in Coos County, Oregon, United States. Charleston is the least populated (Pop. 795 [2017]) community in Oregon's Bay Area and is Home to a large commercial fishing fleet, it is adjacent to the ocean entrance to Coos Bay. [3] Charleston is the site of the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology [4] and the United States Coast Guard Charleston Lifeboat Station. [5]
Charleston was named for Charles Haskell, a settler who filed a land claim along South Slough in 1853. [6] South Slough is an arm of Coos Bay, which it enters near the bay's mouth on the Pacific Ocean. [7] Oregon Route 540, which crosses the slough southwest of Barview, passes through Charleston and links it to three state parks further south along the coast: Sunset Bay, Shore Acres, and Cape Arago. [7]
Postal authorities established a post office in Charleston in 1924. [6] The community's ZIP code is 97420. [8]
The South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, a 4,770-acre (1,930 ha) reserve along the Coos Bay Estuary, was established in Charleston in 1974. [9] It was the first of 28 such reserves in the United States and the only one in Oregon. [9]