10th Anniversary UK Mega – Yorkshire 2018 Trackable

Geocoin depicting Straithes produced to fundraise for the Yorkshire Mega 2018. 

Staithes is a destination for geologists researching the Jurassic (Lias), strata in the cliffs surrounding the village. In the early 1990s, a rare fossil of a seagoing dinosaur was discovered after a rockfall between Staithes and Port Mulgrave to the south. This fossil has been the focus of an ongoing project to remove the ancient bones of the creature. Port Mulgrave remains one of the best places on the northern coast to find fossils of ammonites and many visitors spend hours cracking open the shaly rocks on the shoreline in the hope of finding a perfect specimen.

The permanent population of the village has dwindled due to more than half of the houses being second homes owned by outsiders from cities such as Leeds and York and further afield. Even though fewer than half of the houses in the village are occupied by local people, the traditions of the village have not yet died; many of the local women still buy Staithes bonnets from the sole bonnet maker, and the Staithes Fisher Men's Choir is still going strong. There is active local participation in the local RNLI Lifeboat crew. Locally, the name was traditionally pronounced "Steers".

The CBeebies series Old Jack's Boat, starring Bernard Cribbins, is set in and filmed in Staithes, with Old Jack's house located at 4 Cowbar Bank in the town.

The 2017 film Phantom Thread starring Daniel Day-Lewis features the cobbled streets of Staithes.

There is a local pub crawl known as the "Roxby Run". This starts at the "Fox and Hounds" in the nearby village of Dalehouse then goes to Staithes Athletic Club, the "Captain Cook Inn", the "Black Lion" (now closed) the "Royal George" before finishing at the "Cod and Lobster" on the harbour.

In 1745–46, Staithes's most famous resident, James Cook (born in Marton near Middlesbrough), worked in Staithes as a grocer's apprentice where he first gained his passion for the sea. He moved to nearby Whitby where he joined the Royal Navy. William Sanderson's shop, where Cook worked, was destroyed by the sea, but parts were recovered and incorporated into "Captain Cook's Cottage".This has been the residency of a local Staithes family for several generations.