This Sunday morning, I’m going to ask you to use your imagination and picture what could be in the little village of Mentryville. You know the place. The former oil field boom town at the end of Pico Canyon Road, west of Newhall.

I lived there from 1960 until 1966 and loved every single minute of that experience. I now give tours of the old home place; often those tours are for third- and fourth-grade students from our local SCV schools.

Got to love the excitement of kids. They can’t believe Felton School, the old, one-room schoolhouse in Mentryville, had eight grades in one room.

Teachers and other folks who come along often have some of the most interesting questions. Many times those questions have nothing to do with the past and everything to do with the present and future.

At least twice a year, if not more often, I get a comment that it would be really great if a couple could say their wedding vows in the school, since they are both teachers. I’ve got to admit the idea is more than a little intriguing to the brain cells I have remaining.

Interior of the Pico Cottage in Mentryville. Photo: Evan Decker.

I’ve got a persistent dream that someday the town will be restored to look as it did between 1895 and 1920 or so. The large, 13-room mansion, called Pico Cottage, could be used as a conference center and even a place for small receptions after a wedding. There would have to be extra – and thus new – restroom facilities installed in the downstairs portion, but that will go to illustrate what could happen.

The bride and her bridesmaids would dress and prepare in Pico Cottage. That is why there would be the new restrooms and such in the house. I would use the room in the center and back of the house as the location of those “necessaries.”

There would be a new door to the restroom added to the room in the northwest corner of the house so the ladies could use the whole area to prepare or dress and primp for the wedding.

The reception food could be cooked in the restored kitchen and put in the dining room. For larger receptions, maybe the whole wedding party could retire to Johnson Park, a bit farther back in the canyon, for an outdoor event.

To get to the schoolhouse from Pico Cottage – wouldn’t it be great if there were a white carriage waiting to take the bride and her ladies up the road a little ways? She could step from the carriage in front of the cottage just like a lady would in 1895.

Felton School | Photo: Darryl Manzer

At Felton School, one of the groomsmen would assist the bride and bridesmaids from the carriage and usher them to the school. Now we can cue the music: All rise, here comes the bride … you know the rest.

Once the “I do’s” are complete, the freshly minted husband and wife go out to the carriage and back to the cottage to prepare for the reception; or they take a carriage ride to Johnson Park, with the rest of the guests following behind in an additional livery of wagons and maybe individual horses.

Johnson Park has a small concrete dance floor, a small stage and a large kitchen area for the caterer to set up the meal. There are also poker tables and horseshoe pits. There is an old bar that would also be restored.

Johnson Park, 0.7 miles up the trail from the buildings in Mentryville.

As the party winds down, folks would be given a carriage ride back to the parking lot, or, weather permitting, they could walk themselves.

So … what bride and groom would like to be the first to sign up for this? There are a few things that would have to be accomplished before it can happen. A few little things like restoring the Pico Cottage and the Felton School. Completing repairs to the facilities at Johnson Park would be good, too.

There have been several weddings in the old town. I think the last one was about 1947. Can someone please let me know? I think it is something that can happen again.

Now, the filming and conference center stuff would also be possible. Restored to a degree so folks can learn the history of our valley and also use the history by becoming a part of the place.

To all of the school teachers out there who are contemplating your future wedded bliss: Think about a wedding in Felton School. Those old, one-room schools were the foundation of the educational system we have today. Wouldn’t that be a great foundation for you, as a couple, to build your marriage upon?

How cool would that be?

Way cool.

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived at DManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].