Milpitas Community Tour - Alviso Adobe, Apricot Farm, Cemetery and Winery

The Milpitas Historical Society will be sponsoring a “Community Tour” on Saturday, July 2, 2011. The tour is open to the public as well as to members of the Historical Society. Those interested will meet at the historic Alviso Adobe on Piedmont Road at 9:30 a.m. for an informational talk by Greg Armendariz, our City of Milpitas Public Works Director, about plans for the park to be developed around the Adobe. Built in the 1840’s, with a second story added around 1856, the Alviso Adobe is the oldest structure in Milpitas.

At around 10:00 a.m., the tour will visit the Silva apricot ranch, 891 Piedmont Rd. to see the last working apricot farm in Milpitas. Member and owner Kelly Silva will show us how apricots are cut and processed.

Then around 10:30 a.m. the tour will cross the road to the historic St. John the Baptist Cemetery, 651 Old Piedmont Road. Established in 1902, originally the parish cemetery for St. John the Baptist church in Milpitas, it is the resting place of many pioneer Milpitas families. Joanne Sousa, who has family resting there, will provide information and a walking tour around the cemetery.

For the last stop, at noon, the tour will go up Felter Road to the Big Dog Vineyards for a wine tasting. There are picnic tables available if you’d like to bring a lunch to enjoy with their award-winning wines and the spectacular view of our Santa Clara Valley.

The Historical Society will be making flyers and maps of the tour that we will need help giving out. For further information on the tour and how you might help, please call Harriett McGuire at 262-7979.