Welcome to the New Almaden Quicksilver County Park Association (NAQCPA) website. Our purpose is to promote the educational and interpretive activities of the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department, particularly in Almaden Quicksilver County Park. We also work to preserve the history of New Almaden, which is a National Historic Landmark District. See the links on the left for information about NAQCPA, our past and present activities, and how you can join or help with the park. There's also information about Almaden Quicksilver County Park, maps, trail descriptions, and park events. 

Almaden Quicksilver County Park is located in south San Jose. It covers 4,163 acres and occupies most of the Los Capitancillos Ridge along the west side of the Almaden Valley and adjacent to the historic town of New Almaden. The park is known for its history of mercury mining. Quicksilver is another name for mercury, the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature. It has a number of useful properties that made it a valuable commodity. From 1846 to 1976, mercury ore was dug out of the earth in the hills and smelted into metallic mercury in furnaces. Much of the mercury was used during the Gold Rush to extract gold and silver from their ores. The total metallic wealth pulled out of the New Almaden mines was greater than any other mine in California. After the mines were shutdown in the 1970's, the land was purchased by Santa Clara County and opened as a park in the 1980's. 

Since its opening, Almaden Quicksilver County Park has been popular for hiking, running, mountain biking, and horseback riding. Historic mining structures can be seen all over the park. The park is a nature preserve and is a good place for viewing wildlife and wildflowers. The Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum, housed in the Casa Grande, the former residence of the mine managers, has displays about the history of the New Almaden Mines.

NAQCPA was involved with the development of the park from the beginning. Members helped preserve and restore historic structures in the park, designed and installed interpretive signs, helped build and maintain trails, led history and nature hikes, and played a major role in the creation and operation of the mining museum. We still do work in the park and are always looking for volunteers to help us, donations and memberships to support our operations, and historic artifacts to add to the museum's collections. See the relevant sections of our website for more information.

Note on our website: Our website has been re-organized. What used to be one long webpage has been split into multiple webpages. The links on the left take you to those webpages. Old links to sections in the previous webpage may not work and will re-direct to the links to the new pages. Use those links to go to the desired topic.

Visit our Facebook page. 

We have a new email address: info@naqcpa.com.