The first wave of Honey Lake pioneer retirees, which has something in common with those “snow birds” of today who flock to warmer climes such as Arizona for the winter, also sought the same.
By the early 1900s, Honey Lake’s grey hair crowd flocked to Pacific Grove on California’s Monterey Peninsula. Why the attraction? Methodism. Pacific Grove was founded as a Methodist retreat. By 1900, the Methodist Church was the predominat religion of the Honey Lake Valley, with churches at Janesville, Johnstonville, Standish and Susanville.
With so many old timers taking up residence there, some seasonal and some year round, Pacific Grove was dubbed “Honey Lake Heaven,” their last journey in life. Yet, it was not exclusive to the older crowd, as members of the DeWitt and Spoon families to name a few, found Pacific Grove more appealing than the Honey Lake Valley and raised their families there.