New Almaden

Nestled in a canyon eleven miles south of San Jose between the Pueblo Hills and the spurs of the Santa Cruz Mountains sits the tiny village of New Almaden, the once world famous quicksilver mining community that evolved on Jose Reyes Berreyesa's Rancho San Vicente during the early 1850s. This National Historic Landmark district was California's first mining operation. New Almaden became the most prominent quicksilver mine under the operation of Quicksilver Mining Company in the Western Hemisphere.

Today, the New Almaden district encompasses the Quicksilver County Park, the Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum at Casa Grande, homes along the banks of Alamitos Creek, Cinnabar Hills golf course, and the highly-acclaimed French restaurant, La Foret.