Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Question: Long before it was known as Silicon Valley, the Santa Clara Valley went by a far more romantic nickname, earned from the endless orchards of prunes, apricots, and cherries that once blanketed the region. What was that nickname?

Answer: The Valley of Heart’s Delight. Before becoming a global technology hub, the Santa Clara Valley was famous for orchards producing prunes, apricots, cherries and other fruit. By the 1930s, more than half the valley’s land was devoted to fruit trees, but beginning in the 1950s, orchards increasingly gave way as the region shifted toward manufacturing and technology.