King City
King City, in the Salinas Valley over the Santa Lucias, was the family’s rail-and-market town — where the coast met the wider world. The schoolteachers who married Plaskett boys arrived by train here before taking the stage to Jolon, and the mail, the ore, and the cattle all moved through it. Mabel Plaskett wrote for the King City newspapers.
place history
The Schoolteacher Brides of Pacific Valley
The county kept sending young women to teach the coast's children — and the Plaskett boys kept marrying them. How two brothers married two sisters, and the schoolhouse became the town.
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The Rattlesnake on the Mail Trail
A rattlesnake struck Ed Plaskett's horse on the mountain mail trail. The horse left the county. The story has a happy ending — eventually.
mabel poem
King City
Stepping off the train after two years away — her love letter to King City, the town at the end of the coast families' long road.
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Sale to Hearst — The End of an Era
Ten dollars on paper for 1,523 acres: the 1922 deed to Hearst's agent that scattered the families and ended 53 Plaskett years in Pacific Valley.
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Camaldoli Hermits Live in Seclusion
Behind a mosaic sign south of Lucia, white-robed monks keep medieval silence on 600 acres above the Pacific.
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Camp Pico Blanco Is Ideal For Scout Summer Activity
In the Ventanas — 'the Windows' — below Pico Blanco, the Boy Scouts made a summer camp of the old Harlan country.
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Dani Family History Is Told
A shelf of level land a thousand feet above the sea: the Dani place, where Gabriel Dani built a one-armed empire and Lucia got her name.
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ER Sans Nevada History
Her father in full: Edward R. Sans, farmer, lumberman, explorer — Nevada's 'Coyote Man,' the government's legendary predator hunter.
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Few Drives as Scenic as Coast’s Cabrillo Highway
Where does Big Sur begin and end? Mabel settles it, then takes you the whole way — San Simeon to Point Lobos, stop by stop. Now with our interactive map and free PDF drive guide.
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History of Coast Schools
Part one of her history of the coast schools — starting with the Redwood School of 1878, built of notched logs without a single nail.
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History of Coast Schools Concluded
Part two: Pacific Valley School — kept since 1880 on the east side of the highway at Plaskett Creek — and the teachers who came to the edge of the world.
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Lopez Point Perpetuates Name of Early Settlers
Manuel Lopez came from Mexico about 1870 and built by the sea at the point that keeps his name — through fortune, rodeo trophies, and terrible loss.
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Lumber Mills Once Buzzed in the Lucias
Where the Nacimiento road tops the divide, Mill Creek springs to life — and once powered the sawmills of the Lucias, including her father's.
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Mabel Relives Days of Her Youth Spent on Mill Creek
'Mill Creek is my favorite, filled with memories of my childhood' — Mabel returns to her father's sawmill country. Companion to our Return to Mill Creek photo story.
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Mansfields Were Pacific Valley Pioneers
From Indian shell beds to a 4,000-acre cattle empire — the Mansfields, who came to Pacific Valley when the lilac grew as tall as trees.
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Mother Krenkel- A Coast Legend
City-bred Margaret Krenkel rode a mule to her own wedding at Los Burros and dug her well by hand — the real-life 'Hannah' of the coast.
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Nacimiento Homesteaders Picked Real “Beauty Spot”
Up the Nacimiento from the old McKern place, the homesteaders of the 1890s picked the prettiest valley in the Lucias.
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Name of George Ames Is Etched in Coast History
George Ames rode down from Santa Cruz at fourteen to work for Jim Prewitt — and rode straight into coast legend.
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One of Few Remaining Jolon Indians Resides in Lockwood
In an old adobe near Lockwood lives Joe Moro, one of the last of the Jolon Indians — his mother born of the mission people under the great oaks.
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Parishioners’ Labor Has Built St. Luke’s
In 1884 three Plaskett brothers rode horseback from Pacific Valley to Jolon to raise a church — St. Luke's, built by its parishioners, standing yet.
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Plaskett Creek Campground Is Popular Vacation Spot
The campground at Plaskett Creek sits on the family's first homesite — Mabel tells how the pioneers came over the Indian trails from Jolon.
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Plasketts Among Early Coast Settlers
How the valley was settled: William Lucas Plaskett's family clearing lilac 'grown to the dimension of small trees' — her classic account of the family's beginning.
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South Monterey County Writers Part II
A 2007 appreciation of Mabel herself — 'Belle' Sans Plaskett with her horse Cleo — by historian Susan Raycraft.
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Story of an ‘Empire’ Symbolized by Chimney
A lone stone chimney above Lime Kiln Canyon is all that remains of Victor Girard's redwood-pole mansion — an empire that lasted barely a decade.
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Tony Fontes – The Story of a Rugged, Fun-Loving Horseman
His forefathers heard the first Padres sing at San Antonio Mission; Tony Fontes grew up to be the coast's rugged, fun-loving horseman.
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Poems by Mabel Plaskett
A small gathering of Mabel's verse, opening with her poem for Mary Kirwan.
place history
History of Coast Schools Part 1
place history
History of Coast Schools Part 2
place history
Poem King City High School
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Aerial Applicators Create New Image
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E.R. Sans, “Coyote Man”, Mill Creek Saw Mill Operator Father of Mabel Plaskett
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Mabel Childhood Adventures on Mill Creek
'A happier more carefree childhood cannot be imagined' — Mabel on growing up wild on Mill Creek.
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The Mabel Plaskett Columnist
How a coast pioneer's wife became the beloved historian of the Big Sur country in the pages of The Land.
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Gordon Plaskett Dies in Plane Crash
Gordon Plaskett, one of Ed and Mabel's sons, died in a plane crash at King City in 1953.
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Sadie Jacks Plaskett Dies at 21
Sadie Plaskett was four days short of 21 when uremia took her on a rainy January night in 1911.
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Reil Dani First to Operate Automobile on Stage Route
Reil Dani drove the Jolon stage for years — and was the first to drive the route with an automobile.
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Tony Fontes Jeep Accident
A jeep, a log, and a hard landing — Tony Fontes's closest call came on four wheels, not four hooves.
Everyone the family archive records in the story of this place. Descendants: if one of these is yours, we’d love to hear from you.
- Mabel Eva Sans Plaskett 1896–1964 · 8 stories
- Lawson McKern Plaskett 1883–1966 · 6 stories
- Henry Kilsdonk · 5 stories
- Paul Harlan · 5 stories
- Alvis Davis · 4 stories
- Wilbur Harlan 1882–1881 · 4 stories
- Albert Sans 1908– · 3 stories
- Alice Stewart Harlan · 3 stories
- Billy Plaskett 1890–1961 · 3 stories
- Bob Digges · 3 stories
- Clarence Plaskett 1888–1916 · 3 stories
- Dave Moro · 3 stories
- Dudley Plaskett 1869–1949 · 3 stories
- Ed Dutton · 3 stories
- Esther Smith · 3 stories
- Frank Digges · 3 stories
- Gabriel Fontes 1850– · 3 stories
- George Harlan 1885– · 3 stories
- Jasper Mansfield 1860– · 3 stories
- Jessie Anderson · 3 stories
- Jim Prewitt · 3 stories
- Joe Moro · 3 stories
- Marion Smith · 3 stories
- Olive Plaskett 1882–1939 · 3 stories
- Roy Plaskett · 3 stories
- Alfred Davis 1912– · 2 stories
- Angie Potter · 2 stories
- Bessie Robinson · 2 stories
- Byron Gianavil Plaskett 1846–1911 · 2 stories
- Camp Lewis · 2 stories
- Charles Sans Sr 1838– · 2 stories
- Charley Digges · 2 stories
- Charley Krenkel 1906–1989 · 2 stories
- Corrine Harris · 2 stories
- Edward Robert Sans 1875–1958 · 2 stories
- Esther Harlan · 2 stories
- Geneva Evans · 2 stories
- Jean Thomas · 2 stories
- Jimmy Smith · 2 stories
- Leta Burton · 2 stories
- Linwood Mitchell 1860– · 2 stories
- Lynna Mitchell · 2 stories
- Mabel Sans 1831–1932 · 2 stories
- Margaret Voss Krenkel 1874–1964 · 2 stories
- Marion Plaskett 1848–1906 · 2 stories
- Michael Dani 1840– · 2 stories
- Michelle Ann Evans · 2 stories
- Mike Harlan · 2 stories
- Olive Sans 1905– · 2 stories
- Orville Olmstead · 2 stories
- Polk Fancher 1895– · 2 stories
- Robert Digges · 2 stories
- Roy Mitchell · 2 stories
- Ruth Lewis · 2 stories
- Sarah E. Ray Sans 1854– · 2 stories
- Tony Fontes 1880–1960 · 2 stories
- William Lucas Plaskett 1818–1909 · 2 stories
- William Nicholas Alderson 1956– · 2 stories
- William Randolph Hearst · 2 stories
- Abraham Yates
- William Lucas Plaskett 1818–1909 · lived or worked here
- Sarah May Barnes Plaskett 1827–1923 · lived or worked here
- Mendocina May Plaskett Mansfield 1856–1936 · died here
- William Everett Eade 1872–1947 · died here
- Frederick John "Fred" Merritt 1873–1943 · died here
- Eva Eade 1877–1966 · died here
- Valla Elizabeth Parkinson Rich 1877–1962 · born here
- Edward Abbott Plaskett 1881–1973 · died here
- Flossie V Rich 1889–1920 · died here
- Fannie Mansfield 1889–1973 · died here
- Fanny Harriet Plaskett Mansfield 1889–1973 · lived or worked here
- John William Draper 1893–1964 · lived or worked here
- Mabel Eva Sans Plaskett 1896–1964 · lived or worked here
- Cora E Draper 1898–1969 · lived or worked here
- Willia Plaskett 1898– · born here
- Edna M Potter 1898–1976 · born here
- Claude Adolph McCandless 1901–1978 · died here
- Mervyn Van Merritt 1901–1975 · died here
- Laurence Alyward Hearne 1910–1999 · died here
- Irene Catherine Hearne 1911–1999 · died here
- Martin Henry Mozzini 1911–1971 · born here
- Emily Plaskett 1912–1973 · born here
- Mary Martinez Casorla 1913–1985 · died here
- Gordon Laurence Plaskett Sr 1913–1953 · died here
- Cyril Edward Plaskett 1915–1967 · lived or worked here
- Virginia Claire Plaskett Merritt 1915–1988 · died here
- James Vincent Plaskett 1915–2001 · born here
- James V. Plaskett 1915–2001 · born here
- Ethel Mae Eade Plaskett 1915–1978 · born here
- Grady T. Lafferty 1916–2002 · died here
- Juanita Elizabeth Matthews 1916–2012 · died here
- Ethyl Margarette Plaskett Horn 1916–2001 · lived or worked here
- Amy Belle Plaskett McCandless Mozzini 1917–1989 · born here
- Coinbs Plaskett 1917– · born here
- Combs Plaskett 1917– · born here
- Leland Plaskett 1919– · born here
- Margaret Alberta Villegas Plaskett 1919–1985 · died here
- Edward Lawson Plaskett 1921– · died here
- Ralph Plaskett 1921–1943 · born here
- Virginia M. Plaskett 1922–1995 · born here
- Virginia Meryl Cogswell Plaskett 1922–1995 · born here
- Gilbert Atherton Plaskett 1922–1995 · born here
- Barbara L. Plaskett 1923–2018 · born here
- Jean Marie Hughes Plaskett 1923–2014 · born here
- Clivie Plaskett 1925–2009 · born here
- Beryl Plaskett 1925–1974 · born here
- Edward William Sans 1928–1994 · born here
- Glenn Draper 1928–1985 · lived or worked here
- Delbert Plaskett 1931– · born here
- Howard Plaskett 1931– · born here
- Marianne Ellen Plaskett Draper Alderson 1931–2001 · born here
- Nicholas Marrs Alderson 1932–2005 · lived or worked here
- Alma Virginia Sans 1934–1997 · born here
- Pell Plaskett 1935–1940 · born here
- Mildred Plaskett 1935–1974 · born here
- Atherton Plaskett 1937– · born here
- Belle Plaskett 1937– · born here
- Sherian L Plaskett 1939– · born here
- Vernon Arlo Plaskett 1939–2004 · born here
- Barbara Plaskett Cozby 1941– · born here
- Sylvia Plaskett Ward 1942– · born here
- Frank "Mickey" Joseph Hearne 1942–2013 · born here
- Patty Plaskett Hearne 1943– · born here
- Michael Edward Plaskett 1944–1944 · born here
- Beby Plaskett 1945–1925 · born here
- Penelope Lynn Plaskett Barbee 1949– · born here
- Samuel Anthony Plaskett 1951– · born here
- Glenda Plaskett Weldon 1954–2017 · born here
- Marianne Alderson 1961–1961 · born here
- Kelly Sue Plaskett Harless 1961– · born here
- Patricia Eileen Casorla 1967– · born here
- Christie Ellen Casorla 1967– · born here
- Bradley Paul Casorla 1969– · born here
- Cyril "Cy" James Barbree 1969–2024 · born here
- Eric Joseph Barbree 1973–2004 · born here
- Annie Martinez · born here
- Aubry Ward · born here
- Audrey Barbree Feliz · born here
- Benjamin Plaskett · born here
- Chris Harless · born here
- Hethe Barbree · born here
- Mark Aaron Knott Lafferty –2008 · born here
- Sadie Plaskett –1911 · died here