The First Home on the Ranch

The First Home on the Ranch. . You are standing in front of the old homestead house, the earliest building at Picchetti Ranch. Secundo Picchetti built this house in 1882. Soon after, he and his wife moved in and began clearing land for vineyards. In 1884, Secundo sold his half share in the ranch to his brother, Vincenzo, whose family shared the house with hired workers until the main house was completed in 1886. The building remained as a workers’ residence for several decades. In the mid-1950s, the Picchettis added a side entrance and closed off an inside door that connected sections of the house to provide greater privacy for the two ranch hands who lived there. The building was also used for wine storage and, later, as an office., In 1997, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District completed structural improvements to this building with grant assistance from the Santa Clara County Historical Heritage Commission., Inset Image Caption: A portrait of the Picchetti family taken between 1888 and 1904 showing: , Theresa and Vincenzo, their four sons, John, Antone, Hector, and Attilio (left to right); and Theresa’s sister, Louisa Cicoletti, who moved to California from Italy in 1888 to help raise the children and manage everyday tasks at the ranch. , Photograph courtesy of the California History Center Foundation, De Anza College, Cupertino, CA.