How many times have you walked the paved loop at Martial Cottle Park, looked across at the white farmhouse and the big barn behind it, and wondered when you'd be allowed to get closer?
The answer is Saturday, November 7, 2026, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. That's when Santa Clara County Parks will hold the dedication for the Cottle and Lester Historic Ranch and the completed Perimeter Trail. The county says the ranch will be open and accessible to the public for the first time. Some expectations should be adjusted before you go, though. This first phase opens the grounds around the buildings, not the rooms inside them. The ranch is also arriving late to a park that has spent years doing the farming work the family asked for.
What the County Is Actually Opening
The event notice is specific. Visitors can "explore the accessible pathways, view the exterior of the historic buildings, enjoy the activity stations, and learn about what life used to be like here." There will also be Park Partner booths, tour and activity stations, and a scavenger hunt. Admission is free. The county's regular vehicle entrance fee still applies. That fee is $6 a day, and the park collects it year-round.
The notice says you can view the building exteriors. It doesn't say you can go inside. Here's what you'll be looking at, based on the county's own description of the ranch core:
| Building | Era | What it was for |
|---|---|---|
| Family home, rear section | c. 1867 | The modest original house |
| Family home, front section | 1883 | The grand Italianate addition facing out |
| Stock barn | 19th century | Draft horses and dairy cows |
| Carriage house | Not dated by the county | Listed alongside the garages |
| Garages | Early 20th century | Listed alongside the carriage house |
| Equipment shed | c. 1944 | Gas-powered farm machinery and implements |
The county dates the original buildings from about 1867 through the 1960s. They sit in one cluster, running from a barn built for draft horses to a shed built for gas-powered machinery.
The construction contract covered a different list of buildings. Plant Construction, the contractor that won the Phase 1 job, described the work as repairing and stabilizing the Cottle House, the Japanese House, the pumphouse, the water tower, and the water tank. That's structural work to keep old buildings standing. It isn't the same as finishing interiors for visitors. So the barn and the house you'll see on November 7 have been made safe and preserved. They haven't been set up as indoor exhibits.
Why Phase 1 Means Phase 1
Walter Cottle Lester was the last family member to live on the ranch. He kept the core as a life estate after donating the land in 2003, and he lived there until he died in 2014. The county's own page says that's when planning for restoration and public opening began. Twelve years from his passing to a dedication date is long. Following the money and the schedule shows why.
In June 2022, Senator Dave Cortese announced $5 million in state funding for Martial Cottle improvements, aimed at speeding up the Historic Ranch project. When the county opened Phase I bids on July 25, 2024, offers ranged from about $13.5 million to $16.06 million. The engineer's estimate was $15.315 million. The bid sheet doesn't show the final contract amount, so the actual cost of this phase hasn't been published in anything reviewed here. In February 2026, Representative Jimmy Panetta announced $250,000 in federal community-project funding for Phase 1 of the 31-acre Historic Ranch Site Plan.
The schedule also slipped. When Plant Construction announced the award in December 2024, it expected construction to start in May 2025, with completion anticipated in August. The county's ranch page later said the site would open "by guided tour only some time in summer 2026." That page also says, "Access will increase as later phases of the restoration project are completed." The November dedication replaced the summer target. The second sentence is the one to keep in mind. The 31-acre site plan was always meant to open in stages. On November 7 you can walk the paths and see the buildings from outside. Later phases are meant to expand access beyond that.
The Farm Has Been Running This Whole Time
The ranch core is opening late, but the farm around it never stopped. Martial Cottle Park was set up to keep farming.
The State-County master plan describes how the land was divided. About 120 acres were gifted to the county, about 137 acres were sold to the state, and a 30.9-acre life estate stayed with Walter until it could join the park. The family's line goes back to Edward Cottle. According to the county, he arrived in 1854 and bought part of Rancho Santa Teresa in 1856. Ethel Cottle Lester wanted the land preserved to teach the valley's farming history. When Walter transferred the remaining 287 acres in 2003, the stated purpose was educating the public about that history.
The master plan carries out that purpose. Its largest land-use zone is leased agriculture, meant to keep most of the park producing crops. Jacobs Farm del Cabo farms about 180 acres of the park organically. The county's current list of park partners also includes the UC Master Gardeners, the Composting Education program, Small Farms, Urban Agriculture, Sunset 4-H, Our City Forest, and the City of San José community garden.
So the ranch isn't opening onto empty fields. It joins a farm that's already working. The family wanted the land to teach, and the partner plots have been doing that for years. The houses and barns add the domestic side: where the family lived, where the animals were kept, and where the machines were stored once tractors replaced horses.
How to Use the Weeks Before November 7
You don't need to wait for the dedication to visit. Here's what's on the park's calendar this fall, in date order:
- Saturday, October 3, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.: UC Master Gardeners Fall Garden Fair. The event is free and needs no registration. Parking is $6. Expect plant sales, free garden talks, a seed exchange, children's activities, and Repair Café Silicon Valley. The plant sale includes winter vegetables, herbs, ornamentals, native plant seedlings, succulents, and garlic and shallot bulbs. If you plan a cool-season garden, the timing works well.
- Saturdays, October 3 and October 10: Our City Forest workdays. Their Urban Forestry Education Center at the park includes an arboretum, a drought-tolerant garden, and a lawn-conversion demonstration. On third Saturdays they offer workshops and tours by reservation.
- Wednesday, October 7, 9 a.m. to noon: Coffee with a Park Ranger. County Parks is hosting this one off-site, at the Starbucks at 7026 Santa Teresa Boulevard. It's a chance to ask about the ranch opening in person.
- Any Wednesday or Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon: the Master Gardeners' demonstration garden. The four-acre garden also holds succulent sales on the third Saturday of each month.
- Saturday, November 7, 9 a.m. to noon: Our City Forest workday. It overlaps with the dedication, so you can volunteer in the arboretum in the morning and walk over to the ranch afterward.
Two more places are worth knowing. The Walter Cottle Lester Visitor Center is already open, with exhibits on the family and the valley's farming history. Since the ranch buildings will only be viewable from outside, a stop at the visitor center before the dedication gives you the story behind what you'll be looking at. If you'd like to grow your own food, the City's Rusty Areias Community Garden at 343 Chynoweth Avenue has 46 plots, including ten ADA plots. The city issues them annually, and rent is $0.43 per square foot. The city's page doesn't list current openings.
On the trail, the county describes the park's paved network as running more than three miles. Its dedication notice confirms that the Perimeter Trail is now complete. It hasn't published an official length for the finished perimeter loop. If you track your miles, November 7 is a good day to measure it yourself.
The Cottle and Lester family held this land from 1856 until 2003. Deciding what happens to a home after that many years is never just a paperwork question. If your family is weighing what comes next for a home it has held for decades, Lori Robitaille Biasca is glad to sit down and talk through the options at your pace. Let's Connect.
