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.
Lester did not leave right away. Under the 2003 agreement, he retained a 32-acre life estate and continued living on the property until his death in 2014, at which point control of the historic ranch core passed to Santa Clara County to begin planning its public restoration, the county parks department says. That arrangement explains the more than decade-long gap between the original land gift and the active construction now nearing completion.
Martial Cottle acquired the Lester property in 1864. The operation employed Japanese American tenant farmers starting in the 1910s and Filipino farmworkers.
Victorian Architecture and a Statewide Planning Framework
The Cottle House itself tells a layered architectural story. Santa Clara County Parks describes the complex as spanning nearly a century of construction, pairing an original, modest structure built around 1867 with a grand Italianate front section added in 1883. A joint Martial Cottle Park State Park General Plan and County Park Master Plan dates to 2011, establishing the governance framework shared between state and county authorities for the site.
Martial Cottle Park includes 287.5 acres, perimeter trails, and leased agricultural land.
Federal Dollars and Decades of Private Giving
Phase 1 of the historic ranch restoration has drawn support beyond county coffers. U.S. Representative Jimmy Panetta announced $250,000 in federal community project funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in August 2026 to support the 31-acre Historic Ranch Site Plan, according to his official congressional website.
Private philanthropy has played a role too. The Martial Cottle Park Foundation, established through Walter Cottle Lester's estate, has contributed nearly $300,000 toward the historic site, including a $196,147 donation in 2021 to fully repair and restore the original windows of the Cottle House, as reported by El Observador.
Santa Clara County Parks is also recruiting volunteers to help with the November 7 dedication, with sign-ups available through a posted volunteer link.
