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) Sans (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.

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

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.

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.