WTF was pleasant valley

Here’s the script- no photos for this one sadly.

When you start to dig into it, “Gorst” as we know it know used to a collection of smaller communities. These include head-of-the-bay, Pleasant Valley, Butler, zeta and probably more that I haven’t dug up yet. The history book often talks about sunnyslope and minter as part of gorst, possibly because they were neighboring though no one I know today would consider sunnyslope part of Gorst. The general borders seem to be the rock quarry on the N side of sinclair inlet, and Ross point on the south side. You can see the rock quarry from the freeway, it’s a giant carved out chunk of the hill that looks a little like an ampitheater. Ross point, on the other side is the sharpest turn on your way into port orchard, just before the little blue building that used to be a restaurant. 

Gorst was settled by white folks in the 1880’s, alongside most of the other waterfront settlements like Bremerton and Sidney (nee port orchard). Port Blakely Mill established a farm at the head of the bay and it was run by a man called, I kid you not, “Gooch”. The first family to settle there was, of course, the Gorst family. They arrived in 1888 and settled on 60 acres near anderson hill. 

in 1889, the butler family arrived and settled in the northern portion. The area became known as Butler because the family was welcoming to travelers and the wife was a great cook- their home became a table board restaurant, for feeding tired travelers. They charged 25 cents for a dinner that usually consisted of game meat, fresh homemade bread and vegetables from their own garden. the butler family had five eligible daughters who would be escorted to port orchard in a row boat by their brother to attend dances. If they tide was out, they had to take off their shoes and stocking, and lift their clean, starched dresses and petticoat to walk barefoot in the mud to the boat before putting their socks and shoes back on. The butler family left around 1905 so these girls would have been dressed in fashions somewhere in the 1899-1904 range. We’re talking voluminous skirts, starched petticoats and possibly corsets! Can you imagine prancing around the mudflats of gorst in a fucking petticoat and corset?!

in 1904, Pleasant valley finally got it’s first school. It was a one-room school that was used for religious sunday school on the weekends. Children walked to school but there were no roads, so they would always arrive dirty and covered in mud. the school grew and grew and additions were made to it over the years before a new building was constructed in 1954. Gosh that’s modern. This book was published in 1977 and it doesn’t seem to know that there isn’t a school anymore. There was a book published in 1961 called “history of the fifty-seven years of pleasant valley school” but I do not know where to find that book. 

on the business side, there was only a handful of businesses in the area before the 1920’s. The blakely mill had a farm, as I mentioned earlier. next came the stone quarry in 1877 and at some point the Curtis brickyard. in the 20’s a fill up station and grocery opened. a proper post office was not established until the 1940’s and before then, mail had to be picked up from Charleston. 

The arrival of the post office is what brought about the name “Gorst”. It was a hot topic at the time. Some people thought it should be named Butler and some wanted Pleasant valley. I’m imagining a terrible team edward/team jacob but with butler vs gorst. I’m going to guess they didn’t keep pleasant valley because Oh my god, there are a lot of places in a lot of states called Pleasant Valley. Google it and see for yourself. It makes research a little rough. 

In the end, the name Gorst wins. Gorst in 1977 is described as, quote, a thriving center at the junction of the highways” unquote. It boasts about the antique shop, the mobile home park, the schools, the markets and the churches.

A daughter of the gorst family described gorst as “The light from our big bay window made a pathway over the water. The water was our highway when we rowed to town for supplies or to school. Silver salmon, 8-10 lbs abounded just off shore in front of our house. One season, I caught 7 with a trawling line. We had a variety of orchard fruit and strawberries. Father brought the trees from Silverdale. It seemed magic to me how he changed the wilderness to a home. We had fewer than a dozen neighbors around the bay above ross point but they were all most hospitable.”

Sounds like a pleasant valley indeed.

which brings me to my next question… WTF happened to Gorst?!