he Capão Alto Fazenda made up part of the lands in the first sesmaria in Campos Gerais. It was granted in 1704 to the family of Pedro Taques. In 1751 it was aquired by the Third Order of Our Lady of Carmo, seated in the Order’s convent in São Paulo.
Using slave labor, the friars raised cattle and produced foodstuffs, built a chapel (Saint Anthony of Capão Alto), and a cemetery which would serve the incipient population of Iapó, which was situated along the cattle-driving routes.When the Carmelites returned to São Paulo around 1774, the fazenda was leased to other persons, but the slaves remained on site. For ninety years, they continued cultivating the land and raising cattle, keeping up the Order’s property and tending to their own routine subsistence. In 1864 the slave population of about 200 was sold to the São Paulo firm of Gavião, Ribeiro & Gavião. When they were about to be removed from the fazenda, the slaves rebelled. Some were killed. Others fled to hiding places in Castro, but the majority was suppressed and taken to work in Paulista fazendas.
In 1870 the fazenda was aquired by Bonifácio José Baptista, a member of an influential family in Campos Gerais. Bonifácio, who was made Baron of Monte Carmelo by Dom Pedro II, built a beautiful, comfortably appointed mansion. Like many fazendeiros, he supported the Federalist Revolution (1893-1895). Known as Maragatos, they supplied horses, rations, and other goods to the campaign; but when the conflict ended, he decided to move to São Paulo, where he died on April 21, 1897.
The fazenda was handed down to successive heirs until the 1940s. In 1979, it was sold to the Central Dairy Producers Cooperative of Paraná, and in 1983 it was taken over by Coordenação do Patrimônio Cultural da Secretaria da Cultura do Paraná. It was then architecturally restored. Currently, the property is open to visitors.
It offers cultural-historical activities under
the administration of “Fazenda Capão
Alto Empreendimentos Culturais e Turísticos S/A”.
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