The Other Winchester House: Landmark Legend and Luxury

The Winchester-Merriman House is the oldest house in Los Altos, California, and was once owned by Sarah Winchester of Winchester Mystery House fame. 

Mrs. Sarah Winchester was a native of New Haven, but left New England after the death of her husband, who was the heir to the Winchester Rifle fortune. She moved to the Santa Clara Valley in California, hoping the mild, sunny climate would be good for her arthritis and gained fame for her fantastic house, now a big tourist attraction in San Jose. It has, however inaccurately, become associated with gossip about Mrs. Winchester's involvement with the occult, something that has never been confirmed by even one bit of verifiable research.

Sarah Winchester is one of six profiles in my upcoming book, Historic Bay Area Visionaries, coming this October from the History Press.

A Grower and a Tech Pioneer: A Santa Clara Valley Friendship

Modern Silicon Valley may not feel it has a lot in common with Santa Clara Valley's recent agricultural past. But many friendships blossomed in the orchards. Ask Charlie Olson of Sunnyvale's Orchard Heritage Park. He will tell you.

It wasn't very long ago that tech visionaries like Steve Jobs and David Packard were cultivating their own apricot orchards in the Santa Clara Valley. Before Jobs died, he finalized plans for the new Apple campus in Cupertino and decreed it be surrounded by fruit trees of all kinds. Packard, of Hewlett Packard fame, had his own orchard in Los Altos Hills--sixty acres of apricot trees, now cultivated by his foundation.