The Plaskett Family

More than a century on the Big Sur coast

Places

Lucia

Lucia is a tiny cliff-top settlement on Highway 1 — for generations little more than a store, a few cabins, and Lucia Lodge perched above the Pacific — a landmark stop on the coast road north of the Plaskett valley. Just south of it a mosaic sign marks the turnoff up to the New Camaldoli Hermitage, and the old lime kilns lie in the canyon nearby. Mabel Plaskett called the walk up Limekiln Creek here the most beautiful in the world.

Stories set here

mabel poem

A Day at Wesleys Spring

A day's ride up a steep mountain trail with two companions, to lie beneath the willows at Wesley's spring.

mabel poem

The Paulsen Place

Under a sheltering white oak on the San Antonio River, a weary pilgrim finds the Paulsen Place — and peace for a tired soul.

mabel article

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.

mabel article

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.

mabel article

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.

mabel article

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.

mabel article

San Simeon Rancho Story Is Told by Mabel Plaskett

Cabrillo's 'Bay of Sardines,' a whaling captain's store, the Hearst boys at play — four centuries of San Simeon in one telling. Sebastian's Store was 102 years old when she wrote it.

The people of Lucia

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.