A farm that stayed in one family’s hands for 150 years is about to open a little wider to the public. Santa Clara County Parks will hold a dedication event on November 7, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., celebrating the completion of Phase 1 construction on the Cottle and Lester Historic Ranch and its new perimeter trail at Martial Cottle Park in South San Jose.
The free event invites visitors to walk accessible pathways, check out activity stations, and view the exteriors of the ranch’s historic buildings, according to Santa Clara County Parks. Guests can also learn about daily life on the ranch during its working years, though the agency has made clear that the historic structures themselves will not be open for public entry at this stage. As Santa Clara County Parks notes, exterior pathways, activity stations, and building exteriors will be accessible at the dedication, but interior access to the historic ranch structures remains restricted until subsequent restoration phases wrap up.
That staged approach reflects the scale of work still underway. San Francisco-based Plant Construction was awarded the Phase 1 restoration contract covering repairs and stabilization on the main Cottle House, the Japanese House, the pumphouse, the water tower, and the water tank, per the company’s own project records. Interior access to the historic ranch structures remains restricted until subsequent restoration phases wrap up.
A Farm That Outlasted Silicon Valley’s Sprawl
The land’s survival as open space, rather than subdivisions, traces back to 2003, when last surviving family heir Walter Cottle Lester preserved the 287.5-acre property by donating 120.12 acres to Santa Clara County and selling another 136.52 acres to California State Parks at a discounted price of $5 million, according to the Morgan Hill Times. The deal is counted among the largest public parkland donations in the county’s history…