Growing Apricots in the Santa Clara Valley

California’s Silicon Valley was once home to the beautiful orchards of various fruits and nuts, including a great source of apricots. Farms in Campbell, Los Gatos, and Saratoga spread across many acres, and workers harvested these apricots for a living. The history behind the immense work done on these farms adds great significance to the abundance of fruit that came from the Silicon Valley orchards, especially as a lot of this work was done by Italian immigrants. Growing up in the Silicon Valley, I have watched more and more land attributed to orchards be built on for the interest of new industries. However, I have not forgotten the many orchards that once thrived on the lands of the Silicon Valley, especially because of my dad’s hard work on his Italian family’s apricot orchard while he was growing up. His stories of how different Silicon Valley used to be as well as being surrounded by the rich soil and remaining orchards everyday has interested me in the history involved behind the lost orchards of Silicon Valley, as well as the hard-working Italians who contributed to them. The importance of this history raises the question, what was life like for Italian Americans working on the apricot fields of Santa Clara Valley?

This section of the exhibit explores the history of agriculture in the Silicon Valley, focusing primarily on Italian Americans who worked on these orchards. "Growing Apricots in the Santa Clara Valley" discusses how these vast orchards thrived, Italian Americans contributions to the greatness these orchards provided, and the work women contributed to this industry as well.

Credit: Sophia Sordello