Toledo

Once a rustic mill town, Toledo has reinvented itself as an enclave for painters, artisans, antiques, and the most amazing barbecue this side of Missouri. Landscape artists Ivan Kelly and Michael Gibbons reside here, as well as metal sculptor Sam Briseno, potter Jean Inglis, and contemporary artist Jon Zander. Just seven miles inland from the coast on the Yaquina River, it is the only inland coastal community with a deep-water channel. The Yaquina is fished for sturgeon, fall-run chinook, and steelhead.