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The Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum

As promised in my prior Vintage Wedding Dress blog, I am posting more photos of the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum.

Martin Murphy Jr. was the original founder of Sunnyvale. He came over with the Murphy family, crossing the Sierras in a covered wagon in 1844 and established the Bay View Ranch in what is now Sunnyvale. The Murphy family history has been related on the Heritage Park Museum’s website so I won’t try to duplicate it. I highly encourage you to explore their website – it is really interesting! Start Here and here.

In the meantime, here are some of my photos of the replica of the original Martin Murphy Jr. house (the original was destroyed in a fire).

This replica of the original house was “re-created from old photos and documents of the original Martin Murphy Jr. home.”
This is an original bell that had been placed along El Camino Real and Mary Ave in 1906.
Painted by Artist Morgan Bricca
The Parlor – there is so much more than is pictured here.
The house is decorated with Murphy family original artifacts and period pieces.
I love these trunks that double as a clothes chest!
Everything was hand-sewn and crafted.
School desks from the mid-1800s
These look more comfortable than our current classroom furniture!
God forbid a teacher lingers in an ice cream store – the horror!
Typical Toys of the Era

And now for the Mural Room. I love this room because it depicts what Silicon Valley – oops – Santa Clara Valley used to look like. The mural was painted by Ali Pearson and depicts the time from the Ohlone Indians to the 1950s. You must see it in person to really appreciate the whole thing.

 

Is that Moffett Field??  . . Sigh 🙁

The museum is open Tues/Thurs/Sun from 12 noon to 4pm and it’s FREE. Located at the Sunnyvale Community Center, 570 E. Remington Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94087. Call 408-749-0220 or visit their website for more information.

 

 


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