A town between the redwoods and the sea.
Grown from a 19th-century logging camp into a coastal community of mill, harbor, and college - this is the place you'll live your story.
Briarmont sits where the redwood line meets the salt water - a town that has never quite decided whether it belongs to the forest or the sea.
Briarmont began in 1857 as the timber camp of Hartwell Timber Co., founded by Elias Hartwell, and had become a town on mill wages by 1866. His company was sold off for its debts after he died in 1911, and in 1918 the town's trust opened the Oakridge Institute of Forestry and Land Sciences on the estate he left, the school accredited as Oakridge College in 1947.
Read the full history in The Lore →
The places you'll come to know
Nine corners of Briarmont, drawn from the places themselves.
The Harbor
Where the town began and still gathers - research boats, the ferry slip, and fog off the water.
Oakridge College
Hartwell Manor, up on the rise, is now the college's administration building.
Main Street
Catch a picture at the Plaza, work the cabinets at the arcade, or dig through the crates at the record shop.
Windjammers Bar
Where live music, good beer, and the NorCal night breeze meet.
Town Services
Town Hall and the township offices - sheriff, fire, and the civic desk that keeps Briarmont running.
The Redwoods
Where the forest comes almost down to the tideline.
Hartwell General
The county hospital above Main Street - the ER that answers when the coast calls.
The Courthouse
Hartwell County's seat of justice - oak benches, a coffered ceiling, and a century of records.
Bellhaven Chapel
The Gothic stone chapel on the downtown corner - weddings, vigils, and quiet afternoons.
Who lives in Briarmont
Mornings in Briarmont start at the harbor, with the research boats heading out into the fog and the cafés in the old mill buildings opening early for their crews. Most families in town can name someone who worked for the mill, and most of them have an opinion about it.
Dockhands and lifeguards work the water; students and professors fill Oakridge; shopkeepers, artists, cooks, and drifters make the streets in between. Some come to build a quiet life. Some come to disappear. Everyone ends up part of the town's record.