'The Cutest Little Museum' Gains A Volunteer

The name, Stevens Creek, is all over Cupertino and the area. Stevens Creek Boulevard, Stevens Creek Trail. Stevens Creek Dam.

When Barbara Lecus, a retired clerk from the Campbell Library, started exploring Cupertino parks a year ago, she was fascinated by the man behind the name, Capt. Elisha Stephens.

Not only is the former soldier, blacksmith, fur trapper and guide's name misspelled all over West Valley, but he was only the Valley for less than 20 years. According to the Cupertino Historical Society, he homesteaded 160 acres on the eastern bank of the Arroyo de San Giuseppe do Copertino and bought 150 acres more from the Peralta family's Rancho San Antonio. His 315-acre farm was called Blackberry Farm.

Sound familiar?

Stephens, who sold his farm to W.T. McClellan and George McCauley in 1864, decamped to rural Kern County, according to the lead exhibit that greets you at the Cupertino Historical Society Museum at the Quinlan Center.

"It's gittin' just too crowded, too durn civilized," Stephens reportedly said. Those words are right there, as soon as you walk in. 

Lecus said she's not a history buff, but she was drawn here, by her affinity with Stephens, about whom she learned so much from her visits to McClellan Ranch Park.

And the historical society gained a volunteer, which is something they are always needing.

Wednesday was her first day.

"It's the cutest little museum," Lecus said. "And I like working with the public."

So, on Wednesdays, drop into the historical society's museum, and you'll find the organization's newest volunteer.

Go easy. She's still learning the ropes. But she can tell you a lot about Elisha Stephens.