North Fork 53 Is a Bed-and-Breakfast with Bud

It's a great place to get stoned.

When it opened last year, North Fork 53 had no plans to cater to cannabis users. This postcard-ready B&B in an old-timey red house with lattice gates and a manicured path lined with stones wanted to be "a very wholesome place."

"We were still under the stigma of cannabis ourselves," says Brigham Lee, who moved to the property across the street in 2014 to live with his now-wife, Ginger Edwards, after meeting on OKCupid while he was living in Portland. Edwards, who started R-evolution Gardens in 2008, was already established as the leader of a now 65-member community-supported agriculture service and organizer of the Oregon Coast's longest-running farmers market.

Lee's background in herbalism prompted him to continue experimenting with remedies for various maladies, often using cannabis-infused tinctures, eventually founding PNW Potions. When the North Fork 53 property became available across the street, 20 minutes from the beach between a winding mountain highway and the Nehalem River, they both knew they wanted to incorporate their garden-grown food. North Fork 53 opened in October 2015, without any plans to integrate weed.

Related: Where to Buy Weed in the North Coast

Financed by friends and community loans, this isn't a cannabis cafe masquerading as a bed-and-breakfast. There are no hippie bead doorways. No weed posters on the walls. No cannabis-infused meals. But, thanks to a cannabis tourism buy-in from local officials and new support from coastal growers, it's safe to call North Fork 53 one of Oregon's top cannabis oases—something it has over any of the very nice lodging options in our Coast Guide.

While smoking and tobacco use aren't allowed inside, guests are free to use cannabis vaporizers in rooms or any other equipment on the property. Thanks to current legalities, North Fork 53 can't offer or even give away cannabis, so it does the next best thing: gives you everything needed to consume and directions to buy from local dispensaries, along with a custom-made serving tray, a vape-leftover receptacle, a grinder and a top-of-the-line PAX 2 portable vaporizer.

"It works just like pairing wine or beer, or any of the great things that come out of Oregon," says Lee.

(Emily Joan Greene) (Emily Joan Greene)

Current law allows for a full-house rental, where eight adults are given the run of the house and property, along with a three-course paired dinner, a complimentary PNW Potion custom infusion upon request, and another paired meal in the morning.

Just under eight months ago, weed events were no more than a joke. That changed Oct. 1, when Edwards played drums at Oregon Coast Cannabis to celebrate the first day of legal adult recreational sales.

"This was going to be a movement in rec cannabis, that we can use to pair with our food and provide a whole experience for guests at North Fork 53," says Lee. "We were going to do a million things at North Fork, and now we're focusing on cannabis."

(Emily Joan Greene) (Emily Joan Greene)

This isn't North Fork 53's first attempt at cannabis events. Previous happenings included a High Tea, Stoner Easter Egg Hunt, a New Year's Eve Moroccan pairing, and several bud brunches. Lee says he hasn't heard anything negative so far.

"Working with the county on events is still so new, no one knows what to do with it," says Lee. "The community has either been supportive or silent."

This month, they'll be hosting a solstice event dubbed "Midsummer Night's Dream," pairing Geek Farms buds with R-evolution Gardens goodness. Over the summer, they'll be building a clay oven for s'mores and pizza. During the next decade, there's plans to permaculture the landscape to create a walkable garden. Guests can interact with chickens laying eggs for breakfast, pick fruit for a snack, or check out the lettuce in the front yard to see if it's ready for that evening's dinner.

"It's going to be a great place to get stoned," says Lee.

GO: North Fork 53, 77282 Oregon Highway 53, Nehalem, 503-368-5832,

northfork53.com/cannabis.html.

Willamette Week

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.