Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Charlie Olsen stands in the shadow of some of the last vestiges of Silcon Valley's once abundant orchards. Olson and others have donated time and personal items for the planned Orchard Heritage Park Interpretive Exhibit.

Land that they loved

Orchard Heritage Park Interpretive Exhibit strives to preserve the past

By Sam Scott

Tino Rodriguez knew while growing up that he didn't want to follow his father into the orchard business. With weather that could knock a crop out in single day, the constant work and the power of the canneries to set the prices, farming was an easy inheritance to decline.

"Those people didn't know what a weekend was," Rodriguez says. He went on to become a baker and then a mutual funds salesman. His roots, however, remained in the land his father, Abundio, was distraught to see covered in pavement.

On May 13, preservationists will break ground on the Orchard Heritage Park Interpretive Exhibit, a museum that hopes to preserve the memory of how farmers, like Abundio Rodriguez, lived when Silicon Valley was the Valley of Hearts' Delight. Surrounded by 10-acres of working orchard, OPHIE will consist of barn, housing exhibits and an outdoor amphitheater for lectures.

An honor roll of the Santa Clara Valley landowners who owned the orchards will stand as the exhibit centerpiece. The group behind OHPIE has gathered more than 300 names for the honor roll, so far.

"I think its a great honor for all the farmers and their families," Rodgriguez says.


Photograph by Skye Dunlap

OHPIE supporters say they view the project as more than just nostalgia.




When the shovel hits the ground that Saturday, it will mark the result of nearly a decade of lobbying and fundraising by members of the Sunnyvale Historical Association. Bobbi Smirni, who has helped raise the more than $300,000 gathered by the group so far, says the project got its impetus from a small group of people, who realized the past was fast disappearing. They lobbied city council to preserve 10 acres near the community center as orchard. Then, they realized that they needed something else to convey the story of the past.

"We recognized that trees can't tell the story," she says. "They can't talk. We needed exhibitions."

By soliciting funds from corporations, the city of Sunnyvale, and other foundations, and by selling engraved bricks to the public, the group stands ready to build a major cultural asset in the region. Farm tools, donated by Charlie Olson, have helped bring the cost down. Donated architectural work by Joe Guterriez, the co-founder of OHPIE, an architect and history buff, also helped alleviate costs. Smirni says the group needs $100,000 more to complete the building--a feat she is confident can be achieved.

Supporters of the project view it as more than nostalgia for the past. They see it as a way to help understand who we are today. Ann Hines, who works to gather family names for the honor roll, says the orchard owners and farmers passed on the baton of excellence to the technology geniuses that work here today.

"They were extremely hardworking. They had a strong work ethic. They were masters of what they were doing," she says. "We're now doing the same thing, only in tech. This place is a magnet for people who do what they do well."

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