Pacific Valley
place history
Before Big Sur: The Mendocino Years
Fifteen years before Pacific Valley, William Lucas Plaskett rehearsed his dream in Anderson Valley — where the family named a daughter Mendocina, left their name on a mountain meadow that still carries it, and stopped twelve feet short of a different life.
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.
story
Riding with Ed Culver: When the Mailman Was the Coast
Mabel wrote him up in 1961: the mailman who filled grocery orders and played bass viol in the symphony. Her grandson rode in his van to Monterey — back when the coast ran on trust.
story
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.
story
The Guano Harvest: Farming the Top of Plaskett Rock
Ed Plaskett and his brothers built a way to the top of Plaskett Rock — where centuries of seagulls had left a crown of first-rate fertilizer, free for the scraping.
place history
Plaskett Rock: The Family Name, Written in Stone
Off Sand Dollar Beach a white-crowned sea stack carries the family's name on every chart of the coast. Bill and Kim photographed it from ridge, point, and sand.
story
William Lucas, Doctor of the Cholera Camps
No physician within a hundred miles — so the William & Mary man nursed the cholera camps of Sacramento, and set the coast's bones ever after.
story
Jesse James Spends the Night
A quiet stranger was fed at Sarah's table and slept under the Plaskett roof. Only later did the family learn the name he traveled under.
story
Boat Day - The Holiday That Surpassed Christmas
Not Christmas but Boat Day was the great holiday — the day the ship came in with everything the coast couldn't make.
story
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.
gold mines
The Los Burros Mining District and the Lost Town of Manchester
Organized 1876, transformed by Willey Cruikshank's Last Chance strike in 1887 — and gone by 1897, burned and grown over. The rise and fall of the coast's gold district, and the lost town of Manchester.
mabel article
An Old Landmark Lost with Removal of Mansfield Home
'This old house is getting shaky...' — watching the Mansfield home, a Pacific Valley landmark for generations, hauled away.
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
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.
place history
History of Coast Schools Part 1
place history
History of Coast Schools Part 2
story
The Literary Club and Band of Pacific Valley
A brass band, a literary club, and a rare kind of fellowship — culture flourished in a valley days from anywhere.
story
Bears, Cougars, and Wild Animals of Pacific Valley
Winter in Pacific Valley meant bears in the stock pens and cougars in the hills.
story
Alice Eastwood and Reezy Plaskett: The Plants of the Plaskett Coast
In five months of collecting, a self-taught Big Sur carpenter sent Alice Eastwood six plants new to science — and she named two of them for him.
story
The Soapstone Fireplace Still Visible
Where William Lucas built his first cabin in 1869, campers now pitch tents — and his soapstone hearth is still there.
story
Fifty Children Grew Up Happy and Healthy
Fifty children grew up in the isolated valley — every one of them, the family said, happy and healthy.
story
Little Harry Mansfield Drowned in Prewitt Creek
Twelve Mansfield children were born in the valley without a doctor. Eleven grew up. Prewitt Creek took Harry.
- 1864 Frank Muma → Curnell Mansfield & Jim Prewitt
- 1864 U.S. Government → Curnell H. Mansfield · 160 acres
- 1869-09-01 US Government → William Lucas Plaskett · 2000 acres
- 1884 Jim Prewitt → Curnell H. Mansfield
- 1890 Various → Curnell H. Mansfield · 4000 acres
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.
- William Lucas Plaskett 1818–1909 · 6 stories
- Mabel Eva Sans Plaskett 1896–1964 · 5 stories
- William Nicholas Alderson 1956– · 5 stories
- Byron Gianavil Plaskett 1846–1911 · 4 stories
- Dudley Plaskett 1869–1949 · 4 stories
- Alice Stewart Harlan · 3 stories
- Alvis Davis · 3 stories
- Esther Smith · 3 stories
- Henry Kilsdonk · 3 stories
- Marion Smith · 3 stories
- Paul Harlan · 3 stories
- Reason Alpha Plaskett 1852–1933 · 3 stories
- Albert Sans 1908– · 2 stories
- Alfred Davis 1912– · 2 stories
- Bessie Robinson · 2 stories
- Charley Digges · 2 stories
- Charley Krenkel 1906–1989 · 2 stories
- Corrine Harris · 2 stories
- Curnell H. Mansfield 1835–1906 · 2 stories
- Edward Robert Plaskett 1924–1995 · 2 stories
- Esther Harlan · 2 stories
- Frank Digges · 2 stories
- Geneva Evans · 2 stories
- George Harlan 1885– · 2 stories
- Jean Thomas · 2 stories
- Jessie Anderson · 2 stories
- Jimmy Smith · 2 stories
- Leonidas Hamlin Plaskett 1848–1918 · 2 stories
- Leta Burton · 2 stories
- Lynna Mitchell · 2 stories
- Marion Plaskett 1848–1906 · 2 stories
- Michael Dani 1840– · 2 stories
- Michelle Ann Evans · 2 stories
- Mike Harlan · 2 stories
- Olive Plaskett 1882–1939 · 2 stories
- Olive Sans 1905– · 2 stories
- Robert Digges · 2 stories
- Roy Plaskett · 2 stories
- Ruth Lewis · 2 stories
- Sadie Plaskett –1911 · 2 stories
- Wilbur Harlan 1882–1881 · 2 stories
- Alice Dutton
- Alice Eastwood 1859–1953
- Augusta Stringle Cruikshank
- Cape Horn
- Dave Moro
- Ed Dutton
- Edward Robert Sans 1875–1958
- Francis Marion Plaskett 1854–1906
- Henry Melville
- James M. Krenkel 1862–1943
- Jasper Mansfield 1860–
- Joe Moro
- John D. Cruikshank
- Kimberly Dawn Mueller Alderson 1964–
- Lawson McKern Plaskett 1883–1966
- Linwood Mitchell 1860–
- Margaret Voss Krenkel 1874–1964
- Martha Corrine Bennett Plaskett 1852–1911
- Olive Flavilla Plaskett McLean 1860–1936
- Horry Mansfield 1784–1911 · born here
- William Lucas Plaskett 1818–1909 · lived or worked here
- Barnett Abraham Barnes 1820– · died here
- Sarah May Barnes Plaskett 1827–1923 · lived or worked here
- Curnell H. Mansfield 1835–1906 · lived or worked here
- Byron Gianavil Plaskett 1846–1911 · lived or worked here
- Dewey Mansfield 1850– · born here
- Martha Corrine Bennett Plaskett 1852–1911 · lived or worked here
- Reason Alpha Plaskett 1852–1933 · lived or worked here
- Rachel Ann Ray 1853–1889 · died here
- Albert Plaskett 1856–1939 · died here
- Mendocina May Plaskett Mansfield 1856–1936 · born here
- William E. Plaskett 1866–1952 · died here
- James Samuel Plaskett 1870–1961 · born here
- Edwin E Mansfield 1871– · born here
- Lillie Bell Mansfield 1873–1951 · born here
- Sallie M Mansfield 1873– · born here
- Asa G Mansfield 1874– · born here
- Asa Z. Mansfield 1874–1905 · born here
- Lula Frances Mansfield 1874–1963 · born here
- Georgianna Plaskett 1876–1929 · born here
- Laura W Mansfield 1876– · born here
- Frances Marion Plaskett 1878–1966 · born here
- Love Plaskett 1878– · born here
- Richard L. Plaskett 1878–1847 · born here
- Jasper A. Mansfield 1878– · born here
- Dora Mansfield 1878–1966 · born here
- Walter Mansfield 1879– · born here
- Curnell Louis Mansfield 1880–1962 · born here
- Edward Abbott Plaskett 1881–1973 · born here
- Irene Plaskett Sans 1881– · born here
- Arthur Plaskett 1882–1939 · born here
- Tlells Mansfield 1882– · born here
- Wells Mansfield 1882–1881 · born here
- Wlells Mansfield 1882– · born here
- Minnie M Mansfield 1883– · born here
- Della Olive Mansfield 1885–1969 · born here
- Sherman T Mansfield 1885– · born here
- Mary Bell Mansfield 1886– · born here
- Irene Plaskett 1886–1881 · born here
- Fannie Harriet Plaskett 1887–1961 · born here
- Maud Mansfield 1888–1953 · born here
- Clarence Plaskett 1888–1916 · born here
- James G Mansfield 1888– · born here
- Fannie Mansfield 1889–1973 · born here
- Billy Plaskett 1890–1961 · born here
- Sadie D. Plaskett 1890– · born here
- Gertrude Mansfield 1890–1975 · born here
- Curnell Mansfield 1892–1972 · born here
- Frankie Mansfield 1892–1893 · born here
- Clarence L. Plaskett 1894– · born here
- Isabelle Plaskett 1895– · born here
- James S. Plaskett 1895–1961 · born here
- Mabel Eva Sans Plaskett 1896–1964 · lived or worked here
- Horace Mansfield 1896–1974 · born here
- Eade Plaskett 1898–1936 · born here
- Jessie H. Plaskett 1898–1936 · born here
- Jessie Plaskett 1898–1937 · born here
- Laurence Plaskett 1898–1936 · born here
- Albert Edward Sans 1901–1965 · died here
- Cyril Asa Mansfield 1904–1927 · born here
- Etta Plaskett 1904– · born here
- Alta Mansfield 1916– · born here
- Thelma Plaskett 1917– · born here
- Winton L. Plaskett 1918–1918 · born here
- Curnell Montgomery Paul Mansfield 1919–1926 · born here
- Clifford Keith Plaskett 1919–1991 · born here
- Edward G. Plaskett 1924–1995 · born here
- Edward Plaskett 1924–1995 · born here
- Shirley Joyce Merritt 1945–1945 · born here