Historically, native cranberries grew in the northwest region of Oregon, harvested by indigenous people who shared the fruit with explorers. White settlers later harvested wild cranberries because they were a good source of vitamin C, which prevents scurvy and the berry's waxy coating allowed for long keeping.

In 1893, W.C. King started growing cranberries and by the turn of the century he was considered the "cranberry king" of Tillamook County. He wrote to the Oregonian in 1900 that the "picking season is usually one of pleasure to picker and grower. The weather generally is fine—September and October—and men, women and children come for an outing in the cranberry fields. They come with a camping outfit prepared to enjoy the pleasure of outdoor life." He also noted that pickers earned 50 cents per bushel. "My best pickers," King wrote, "average about three bushels a day."

Today, most of Oregon's cranberries are produced on the South Oregon Coast near Bandon, where residents have celebrated the fall cranberry harvest since 1947 with the Bandon Cranberry Festival.