It is located on the Nehalem River, in a valley on the eastern side of the Northern Oregon Coast Range that is the heart of one of the most important timber-producing areas of the state.

Cousins Judson Weed and Ozias Cherrington, both of Ohio, arrived in 1876.

Sometime afterwards, the question of a name for the community came up, and Cherrington suggested the name of his daughter (Vernona) in Ohio, which was adopted.

[6] Vernonia started to become more than an isolated farming community on July 10, 1924, when the Oregon-American Lumber Company opened a state-of-the-art lumber mill, which was supported by a railroad line connecting Vernonia to the rest of the country.

[7] In 2007, heavy storms that impacted the Pacific Northwest washed out roads and destroyed homes, cars,[7] and communications infrastructure.

[12] The Friendship Jamboree is an annual event inaugurated in 1957 and currently held on the first full weekend of August.

[14] This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F (22.0 °C).

25.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

[19] The Banks–Vernonia State Trail, a rails-to-trails conversion featuring a 21-mile (34 km) raised path for bicyclists, pedestrians, and horseback riders, roughly parallels Route 47 to the south of Vernonia.

[22] Called the Nehalem Valley Fixed-Route Service, the bus route was introduced on July 1, 2009,[23] and currently operates on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, twice per day (as one round trip in each rush hour).

[24] The December 2007 flooding in Vernonia was featured in the first season of the television show Ax Men.