Griffin’s Pond

In the early 1900s, young James Peirsol and his gang of local boys found a way to turn summer swimming excursions into soda-fueled adventures with a mischievous twist. Their favorite spot was Griffin’s Pond, a high tide pool carved into the rocky cliffs just south of Mendocino. Sheltered from the waves and warmed by the sun, the pool, always at least ten degrees warmer than the open ocean, was a popular place to swim.

About a quarter mile inland from the pool stood the Ocean View Bottling Works, operated by Chester Barry and his half-brother Justin Nelson. Situated on the former site of James Griffin’s old tannery, this bottling plant produced several popular soda flavors like strawberry, lemon, and cream, distributing them in reusable green glass bottles sealed with rubber stoppers and wire clamps. In its early years, the business also bottled beer for distribution along the coast. That operation came to a halt in the summer of 1909, when Mendocino voters approved a local ordinance banning the sale of alcohol – long before national Prohibition took effect.

The boys, eager for refreshment and adventure, discovered a loose window at the bottling works just wide enough for the skinniest among them to slip through. From inside, he would pass out soda bottles one by one to eager hands outside. Adding to their mischief, they returned the empty bottles for a one-cent refund, making a tidy profit from their own stolen goods. For several blissful weeks, their summertime racket went unnoticed – or so they thought. Emboldened by repeated success, they convinced themselves the adults were none the wiser. After all, why else would the soda be so conveniently within reach?

But the bottlers had caught on. Fed up with the mysterious losses, they devised a clever, stomach-turning trap. The boys had no idea that the bottles they swiped on their final raid had been laced with croton oil, a powerful laxative. That day, after downing two bottles apiece while splashing in Griffin’s Pond, they were struck by a swift and dramatic case of gastrointestinal distress. The aftermath rendered the beloved pool unfit for human use until the ocean tides could sweep through and sanitize the scene.

The episode left an unforgettable impression on James and his friends. Their boyish bravado had blinded them to the possibility of retaliation, and they had underestimated the cunning of the adults they had thought so clueless.

James Peirsol would later recount this tale in his 1982 chronicle of growing up in Mendocino, published by the Kelley House Museum, capturing with humor and vivid detail the flavor of life in early 20th-century Mendocino.

To learn more about the Ocean View Bottling Works, visit the Kelley House Exhibit, On Tap at the Kelley House: The History of Brewing on the Mendocino Coast, now through September 29. The Kelley House is open Thursday-Monday from 11am-3pm. Mendocino walking tours are available throughout the week; visit the Kelley House event calendar for a schedule.