Beyond

A flock of wild parrots hang out most often in the area near El Camino Ave and Mathilda Ave, in Sunnyvale, where Matilda turns into Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road.  At various times and, particularly, towards the end of the day, they congregate in Los Palmas Park, just a few blocks away. A cluster of palm trees in the park provide a safe …

William Wright’s redwood framed, two story, side-gabled farmhouse is the oldest extant residence in Sunnyvale. Located at 1234 Cranberry Avenue. It probably was constructed in 1862 and certainly prior to 1876, when it appears as an illustration in Thompson and West’s Historical Atlas of Santa Clara County. It is a simplified version of the Gothic Revival style. Its original centered …

In 1850, the Martin Murphy Jr family had a 20-room house in what is now Sunnyvale. Because there were no lumber mills at that time, Murphy ordered the home to be built in Bangor, Maine; disassembled; shipped around Cape Horn; and reassembled. Because there were also no suppliers of nails, man named Dawson managed to put the house together using …

Sunnyvale thoughtfully has preserved its heritage as bountiful agricultural land by reserving a large block of orchards and a replica of the house of some of the earliest Sunnyvale pioneers: the Murphy family. In 1994, the City of Sunnyvale preserved ten acres of Blenheim apricot trees to celebrate the important contribution of orchards to the early development of the local …

Originally constructed in the 1870s for George H. Briggs and extensively reconstructed in the 1920 for the Henry S. Stelling family, the mansion recounts the history of Sunnyvale. Briggs was one of the earliest pioneers who came from Boston in 1854. Stelling, the son of one of San Jose’s first orchardists, grew pears and award winning cherries. This large Redwood …

The Monkey Puzzle tree is an exotic conifer. You can see a young example at 545 S. Sunnyvale. Araucaria araucana (commonly called the monkey puzzle tree, Chilean pine, or pehuén) is an evergreen tree growing to 40 m (130 ft) tall with a 2-m (7-ft) trunk diameter. The tree is native to central and southern Chile and western Argentina. It …

Spring in the Santa Cruz Mountains brings a rebirth of native flowers in the grasslands and wooded hills. In some areas, wildflowers are blooming more profusely as a result of the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District’s resource conservation efforts, aimed to ensure long-term protection of natural and cultural resources on District preserves. Prescribed burns, like the one implemented at Russian …

Pulgas Ridge is a small park, part of the Mid-Peninsula Open Space District, off of I-280 near Edgewood Road, just north of Edgewood County Park. There are about 6 miles of trails in the park with some great climbs and descents with amazing peninsula views. Most trails are single-track with a few paved road sections. The weather is usually mild. …

Burleigh H. Murray Ranch is a valley ranch located in San Mateo County inland from Half Moon Bay. The ranch was established in 1857 and became a California state park in 1983. There is only one trail and it parallels the creek running from the parking lot at the West end of the park back up the valley that fills …

Forty minutes from Sunnyvale is the Sunol Wilderness. The Sunol Wilderness is one in a chain of regional widerness parks in southern Alameda County. This remote and beautiful land is the domain of abundant wildlife, including eagels, red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures, deer, coyote, bobcats, and mountain lions. The land is studded with oak and bay, carpeted with springtime wildflowers, and …