The Plaskett Family

More than a century on the Big Sur coast

Places

Pacific Valley School

# PACIFIC VALLEY SCHOOL *A History by Mabel Plaskett* Pacific Valley School opened in 1880 with **Alan McLean** as schoolmaster—one of three early schools between Lucia and Gorda (along with Redwood School and Mansfield School). Laura Madera (née Mansfield) recalled being carried to school at age four on Mr. McLean's shoulders to help meet attendance requirements. ## Location The original school was about halfway between the Mansfield house and William Lucas Plaskett's home, with the Byron Plasketts living a half mile further south. The current school building (constructed by 1962) is near the site of the old Plaskett house. ## Early Families The first three families attending were the **Mansfields**, the **W.L. Plasketts**, and the **Byron Plasketts**. ## Teachers (partial list) - **Alan McLean** (1880, first teacher) - later married Olive Plaskett, became Monterey County Auditor - Miss Emma Cole, Eugene Cole, Fred Wright, May Hayward - **Jenny Bush** - married Dudley Plaskett - Edith Place - "almost married Billy Plaskett" - **Lena Fuller** - married Marion Plaskett - **Nina Berger** - married Allie Plaskett (1893) - Gertrude McMillan (1910) - Mrs. Dow (1912) - Jessie Anderson - rode horseback home to Salinas nearly every weekend - Mrs. Wimmer (1918) - Anita (Weferling) Sands (1937-1942) - Lillian (Mrs. John) Evans (1945-1950) - Robbie (Mrs. Charley Krenkel) - Helen Leopold (1959) ## School History | Year | Event | |------|-------| | 1880 | School opened | | 1912 | Reopened after lapse; Krenkel children walked from Los Burros | | 1919-1927 | Shuey family children attended | | 1927 | Closed when Shueys moved | | 1933 | Emergency school at Wild Cattle Creek for highway construction workers | | 1937 | Reopened under San Antonio School District | | 1942 | Closed (only 2 pupils) | | 1945 | Reopened | | 1953 | Pacific Valley District re-established | | 1962 | New building constructed, 20 pupils enrolled | | Present | Still operating, serving children of highway families and local residents | > "Pacific Valley, Redwood and Mansfield, each helped in some way toward the final goal—a structure whose beauty of simple lines and modern design is the pride of the coast." —Mabel Plaskett ## Sources - History of Coast Schools Part 1 (The Land, October 1962) - History of Coast Schools Part 2 (The Land, November 1962) - Plasketts Among Early Coast Settlers (The Land) - Mother Krenkel: A Coast Legend (The Land)

Stories set here

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.

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.

The people of Pacific Valley School

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.