Why Felton?

There is a park near where we live that contains a ghost town named Mentryville. It is also the oldest producing oil field in the country. The currently producing area is off limits but can be seen from the parking lot. In the ghost town, there is a school named Felton. It was a traditional one room schoolhouse and served the local town.

There is also abandoned equipment, storage areas, barns, and houses. Some of it looks pretty and interesting, others look more like a health hazard. Other neat things include a tree and many of its roots, a local wild lettuce called miner's lettuce or something like that, which still grows in abundance in little garden like areas near the abandoned village, and burned out areas which looked like they once stored working animals. A river flows through, and the water is stained by the oil. There was never any doubt that the local water supply was gross, and probably lacks the oversight it ought to have!

The views from the path are spectacular though, and it is well worth it to continue on after Mentryville. Is it any wonder that I think our valley is one of the most beautiful places in all the world?