East Cathlamet, WA

East Cathlamet is a small Wahkiakum County census-designated place on the east edge of Cathlamet, tucked between the wooded hills and the lower Columbia River. The 2020 census counted 578 residents. The community shares its school life with Wahkiakum School District, a K–12 system serving roughly 430 students across the county. That school connection says a lot about the place: East Cathlamet is a named pocket, but its everyday map is tied closely to Cathlamet and the county. Cathlamet's name comes from a local Chinookan word tied to a rocky stretch of river channel.

Across the river country, local history runs through fishing, timber, trading, and the old Columbia routes. Cathlamet's Pioneer Center, library, and waterfront are the nearest civic landmarks, while East Cathlamet keeps the residential edge of the settlement spread out along the road. East Cathlamet's local scoop is a 578-person Columbia-side community whose identity lives in the seam between a county seat, a school district, and a long river shoreline.