The Old Nugget School

Some of my fondest memories are of the years I spent as a boy out South Myrtle Creek Road in the Nugget School. Although it was only about 4 years, it seems that many of my childhood memories were formed there. My dad bought the place shortly after we moved from Southern California in about 1960. My parents had decided to escape the crowded Orange County traffic and smog. Dad took a job with a small independent telephone company in Myrtle Creek where he was essentially the entire outside maintenance crew. He had a very cool lift truck that he used for maintaining the phone lines, and I remember picking fruit off the trees in the yard from the basket of the lift truck.

A few weeks ago, as we traveled back from Amber's wedding reception, we decided to take a bit of a detour through Myrtle Creek, and drove out to the ghost town of Nugget, where the only remaining building in town is the old school where we lived.


The house we bought was actually an old school house built in 1902, and used for the community of Nugget until 1941. The structure had 14 foot ceilings, and dad had us boys sleeping up in a loft that had been created from the top 6 feet. It didn't have any insulation, and no finish on the inside of the walls, but it was awfully cool space for Dave and I to hang out.



At the time we lived there, there were a number of buildings and a very big tree in the back yard. All of the buildings had some relationship to the old town, such as the livery stable, post office, etc. We used them as barns, chicken coop, wood shed etc. All of them have now been torn down, and the tree is no longer there.


There is still however one tree that I remember very well. It is in the front yard, and I remember it as being large 50 years ago! It is pretty beat up, but has tremendous character. We played in, on and around it for hours.


I loved living at this place. With the pasture out back, cows, creeks, swings, tree houses, etc. etc., I think I was the luckiest kid in the world. I remember learning how to ride a bike there. I even remember teaching Dave how to ride by putting him on the bike and pointing him toward the house which was slightly downhill from the barn, only to have him run into it and crash!

Every kid should be as lucky as I was as a boy. Seems like nothing has changed though, I am still the luckiest guy in the world.


Random wildlife shot.