Chitactac Adams Heritage Park - Gilroy, CA

June 24th, 2007 @ 9:10 AM Native American

In an attempt to find something interesting for the kids to do on Saturday, I went through a list of parks in Santa Clara County to find Chitactac Adams Heritage Park. It’s a small park, encompassing about 4.5 acres, but boy is it packed with history. The park is less a recreational park but more a discovery of the rich history and some of the artifacts of the Ohlone tribes that once flourished in the area. Also, it might very well be the only public park in the Santa Clara Valley with ancient petroglyphs.

The site was once an Ohlone village with quite a few artifacts literally etched in stone. A self guided tour is available with stations outlining really interesting information. There’s a small self guided museum that helps establish a baseline history.

The park is well shaded, but this being Gilroy, summers may be quite hot. My kids (6 and 13 years old) had a good time visiting a piece of local history. They both learned quite a bit, particularly my 6 year old — he learned a little bit of the Ohlone that I’m sure he’ll remember for quite a while (he still remembers a desert hike we took when he was 4 years old at Joshua Tree National Monument).

Here are some other photos:

Cup and saucer petroglyph.