Sullishak Beach cabin - Lincoln Beach, Oregon

Photographs with their stories

Six pictures out of several hundred, each with what the family wrote about it at the time and a link to the whole account. Nothing here has been re-captioned or improved; the words in quotation marks are theirs.

Laying the foundation, spring 1947

Wes, Elsie and Steve lay the foundation blocks for Sullishak in the spring of 1947. Nancy, two months old, is asleep in the back of the 1940 Mercury.
Wes, Elsie and Steve lay the foundation blocks for Sullishak in the spring of 1947. Nancy, two months old, is asleep in the back of the 1940 Mercury.

"Of all the pictures in this series, this is the most poignant to me. Elsie and I are starting the construction process while Steve plays at the side. In the background is our 1940 Mercury, where little Nancy, only two months old, lies on the back seat. The floor of the back seat was my toolbox."

Wes Sullivan, on Wes's History. The whole summer is there: the Camp Adair lumber, the $25 bulldozer, and the foundation he laid without footings.

A salmon bake, the 1950s

Elsie with salmon in aluminum foil on top of a paipo board, in front of the plastic windbreak Wes rigged for the salmon bakes.
Elsie with salmon in aluminum foil on top of a paipo board, in front of the plastic windbreak Wes rigged for the salmon bakes.

"The most important social events we held in the cabin, however, were our salmon bakes. We had these for all the groups to which we belonged, but the biggest and best was for the Statesman newsroom staff. The beer flowed freely."

Wes Sullivan, on Wes's History, where he also describes the firebox dug in the sand, the potato-picker made from a hoe handle and a coathanger, and Elsie double-wrapping the salmon in foil.

The fireplace comes out, 1981

The brick fireplace as it looked at the start of the 1981 project, with the Heatalator grille, the mantel and the bookshelves beside it.
The brick fireplace as it looked at the start of the 1981 project, with the Heatalator grille, the mantel and the bookshelves beside it.

"Our two older sons suggested the unthinkable: Tear out the entire fireplace, brick by brick, and substitute a modern, triple-walled stainless steel metal stack. … They explained, however, that Elsie and I had been responsible for maintaining the cabin for 34 years. The next 34 would be their responsibility."

Wes Sullivan in the Statesman Journal, 17 August 1981, reprinted on Fireplace-1981 with the photographs of Dave and Steve taking it down. The end of that column is about a tin of Lifeboat Emergency Rations that had sat on the mantel for thirty years, and what was inside it.

A hole in the roof, Christmas 2001

The tree punched a hole in the attic roof, and tore the poster tacked to the boards underneath.
The tree punched a hole in the attic roof, and tore the poster tacked to the boards underneath.

"The tree punched a hole in the attic roof... and a kitten poster got ripped."

Dave Sullivan, on Trees-2001. A tree blew out of the lot to the south onto the cabin; Dave and Barbara spent their Christmas trip cleaning it up.

Under the cabin, September 2008

Barb outside in the rain during the underfloor insulation job, September 2008.
Barb outside in the rain during the underfloor insulation job, September 2008.

"Barb helped me install insulation. She cut the fiberglass batts to length and stuffed them under the cabin. Then I (Dave Sullivan), used a nail gun and wood lath to hold the insulation in place. Although it was dry on Saturday, it rained on Sunday. I stayed dry under the cabin ... Barb was outside helping and got all wet."

Dave Sullivan, on Foundation-2008, which also has the digging done with a fireplace shovel and a wooden sled, and the state of Barb's feet afterwards.

The balcony poles go up, 2012

Chris Reiter's Bobcat setting one of the telephone poles that carry the second-floor balcony, 2012.
Chris Reiter's Bobcat setting one of the telephone poles that carry the second-floor balcony, 2012.

"Chris Reiter used his Bobcat to lift the large telephone poles in place to support the new deck."

From Expansion-2012, the year the kitchen was rebuilt from bare studs, the dormers went on, the asbestos siding came off and the hole was dug for the family room.

Then and now: the cabin through the years

Three pairs, each taken from roughly the same place. The dates are the ones the archive actually gives; where a picture is undated, it says so.

The front of the cabin

Then: the front of the cabin after the sun porch was finished and the sidewalks were in, late 1940s. Wes's History, photo 14.
Then: the front of the cabin after the sun porch was finished and the sidewalks were in, late 1940s. Wes's History, photo 14.
Now: the same view, 2023. The balcony on its two telephone poles and the family room at the right were built between 2012 and 2015.
Now: the same view, 2023. The balcony on its two telephone poles and the family room at the right were built between 2012 and 2015.

The kitchen

Sixty-four years and the same wall: the window over the sink is in the same place in both pictures.

Then: Elsie at work in the kitchen around 1950, with curtains hung under the counter and the studs still bare — the interior wallboard did not go up until fourteen years after the cabin was built. Wes's History, photo 15.
Then: Elsie at work in the kitchen around 1950, with curtains hung under the counter and the studs still bare — the interior wallboard did not go up until fourteen years after the cabin was built. Wes's History, photo 15.
Now: the same wall in 2014, with granite counters, a dishwasher and a microwave over the range.
Now: the same wall in 2014, with granite counters, a dishwasher and a microwave over the range.

In between, in January 2012, it came apart:

The old kitchen in January 2012, with the driftwood cabinet fronts coming off and the tile counter still in place.
The old kitchen in January 2012, with the driftwood cabinet fronts coming off and the tile counter still in place.

Upstairs

Then: the upstairs in 2012, mid-job. Barb makes a bed while the dormer openings are still being framed.
Then: the upstairs in 2012, mid-job. Barb makes a bed while the dormer openings are still being framed.
Now: the upstairs in 2014, finished, with the dormer windows and the cedar ceiling.
Now: the upstairs in 2014, finished, with the dormer windows and the cedar ceiling.

There is no photograph in the archive of the upstairs before the 2012 work began, so the first picture here is the job in progress rather than a true "before."

Have a recent photograph taken from one of these spots? Send it along with the date it was taken.

Tell us what you remember → the guest book.

There are two more objects with stories of their own on Things with a story.