[6] Settlement of Waldport began in 1879 when David Ruble bought squatter’s rights from Lint Starr for $300 for property including the area now known as "Old Town."

Many early settlers were of German descent, and one of the names proposed for this town was Waldport: "wald" meaning forest or trees, and "port" referring to its proximity to the ocean.

The plat for the town was recorded on September 9, 1885, and by 1911, when Waldport was incorporated, it boasted a dozen businesses and 150 inhabitants.

The earliest inhabitants of the area were known as the "Alsi" or "Alsea", a name given to them by the Coos tribe.

At the time of Lewis and Clark, the numbers had dwindled to about 1,000, and by 1910 only 29 remained at the Siletz reservation.

[9] In September 1975, Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles gave a lecture in Waldport on UFOs which was attended by roughly 150 people.

In the following days, an estimated 20 residents, nearly one out of 30 people who lived in the town, abandoned their homes and possessions and joined their group, Heaven's Gate.

Longo disposed of their bodies by chaining them to heavy cinder blocks, and submerging them in the Pacific Ocean.

The 2015 film True Story, starring Jonah Hill and James Franco, was loosely based on the case.

[13] This region experiences warm (but not hot) and semi-dry summers with some rainy days, with no average monthly temperatures above 70.4 °F (21.3 °C).

[14] Waldport's Köppen classification and climate is similar to locations such as parts of Ireland, the southern UK, northwest Washington state around Olympic National Park and Canada's British Columbia.

There are on average 165 days with measurable precipitation, which makes Waldport a temperate rainforest.

In 2010 Waldport became home to the west campus for the Oregon Coast Community College.