Four major visitorís centers are located at Lands End, Fort Mason, Fort Point and the Marin Headlands at Fort Barry. In addition there are strong nature and historical interpretation programs, hundreds of miles of hiking and biking trails, and a wide range of cultural events, activities and centers on the lands that once were military property. The transfer of the Presidio of San Francisco from the Army to the National Park Service in 1995 has given this park natural, historical and cultural resources unexcelled by any other urban park in the nation. The wilderness setting so close to the urbanized areas of the city really makes the park an exciting place to visit and seem a world apart from the city.
For more information contact:
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Building 201
Fort Mason
San Francisco, VA 94123-1399
Presidio of San Francisco: There are several accesses to the Presidio/Fort Winfield Scott area, including the Main Gate at the end of Lombard Street and off of US 101 at Lincoln Boulevard
Originally established as a Spanish garrison in 1776, the San Francisco Presidio has been in continuous use as a military post. The area has been used by the U.S. Army for many activities; it was the home of the commander of the Department of the Pacific (and/or California) and the staging point for the Army's personnel for all it's activities on the Pacific Coast until well past WWII. During the latter part of the 20th Century, it was the Headquarters for the U.S. 6th Army and the center for the Army's activities in the San Francisco area.
In 1991 Congress decided to close the post and most of the property was transferred to National Park Service. There are a large number of historic buildings which can be seen. The Presidio Officers Club contains some of the adobe walls of the original Spanish construction. In the square in front of the Officers Club are some of the Spanish cannons which were in the old Castillio. The old post hospital building houses the Presidio Army Museum, which has an excellent collection of displays to interpret the historic role of the Army at San Francisco. A National Cemetery contains the final resting place of many service men who served in American Wars from 1846 onwards.
Golden Gate National Recreational Area: Fort Point National Historic Site: Exit US 101 on Lincoln Blvd, west to the gun batteries along the bluffs above the ocean or east to the Fort Scott parade ground. Follow signs down Long Avenue to old Fort Point.
Fort Point was the site on the southern side of the entrance to San Francisico Bay where the Spanish gun battery was located in 1791. This site was subsequently destroyed for the construction of the first American defenses in the mid-1850s the American Fort Point, an imposing brick structure built to guard the Golden Gate. Designed to hold 127 guns, it probably never had that number mounted after it was armed in 1861. By 1865 the fortress had been rendered obsolete by the technical advances in weaponry developed during the Civil War. Newer defenses were built on either side of the old fort, and on the bluffs on the Marin Headlands in 1870. In 1882 the old brick fort was named Fort Winfield Scott (in honor of the hero of the Mexican War and General of the Army, Winfield Scott), and in 1912 the lands of the Presidio were divided in half, the western portion becoming Fort Winfield Scott and home of the Headquarters of the Harbor Defenses of San Francisco and command post for all the Pacific Coast Harbor Defense commands, the Ninth Coast Artillery District.
The old brick fort, now spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge, was designated a National Historic site in 1972 and is the only example of pre-Civil War defensive works west of the Rockies. Most of the reserve is now a part of the GGNRA. The bluffs along the western edge of Fort Scott contain a number of modern era coastal defense works. In 1976 a 6" rifled gun mounted in a disappearing carriage, was reinstalled in Battery Chamberlin at Baker Beach. This is one of the very few examples of American seacoast artillery in existence today. The battery is open to the public on the weekends. Fort Point is open almost everyday and contains several muzzle-loading cannons and many fine displays on the Civil War era.
Fort Mason
Golden Gate National Recreation Area: Franklin and Bay Streets, San Francisco
The bluffs above Blacks Point were first armed by Mexico in the 1820s. A gun battery was built by the Army in 1863 and was recently restored by the National Park Service. The post was named in 1888 for the first military governor of California, Colonel Richard Barnes Mason. During the 20th Century the post served as the Army's embarkation port to send supplies and men overseas. Today the buildings of Fort Mason support the administrative offices of the GGNRA and the old port buildings are used by many organizations for public activities and events because of its close proximity to downtown San Francisco.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area: Vista Point parking lot at the corner of 48th Ave., and Seal Rock Drive in Lands End. Visitor Center is at Lands End, 1/4 mile further west.
Lands End has always been a popular recreation area for the citizens of San Francisco. The Army acquired title to the area in 1890 to build harbor defenses. The post was named after Lt. Col. John D. Miley who died in the Philippine Islands. Manned until the 1950s these guns, along with all the remaining seacoast artillery around the bay, were cut up for scrap. The area where the buildings were located has been turned over to the Veterans Administration, and a hospital is located here today. The old gun platforms and the rugged coastline is part of GGNRA.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area: Exit from Skyline Boulevard, southbound, in the SW corner of San Francisco.
The dune area around Lake Merced was acquired during WW I as an area for the anticipated land defense of San Francisco. The post was named after Major General Fredrick Funston, a hero of Philippine Insurrection who, as commander of the Presidio in 1906, played an important role in helping the citizens of San Francisco during the quake. Temporary gun batteries were constructed there in 1917. The construction of Battery Davis in 1937 made this area an important part of the defenses of San Francisco. A Nike launch site was located here during the 1950s and 60s. Today, Fort Funston is a part of the GGNRA it is a haven for bicyclists, hikers, hang gliders and those who enjoy the beach.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area: Access road from Sharppark Road in Pacifica
Now a part of the GGNRA, Milagra Ridge was the southern-most coastal defense work built to defend the entrance to San Francisco Bay. A 6" gun emplacement was built here during WW II. A 16" gun emplacement similar to one at Fort Funston was to be built but it was cancelled. Later, the area was used as a launch site for a Nike missile battery. The deserted Battery 243, several fire control stations and the buried Nike bunkers remain at this undeveloped park.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area: Access by ferry from Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.
Before it became one of America's more notorious prisons, Alcatraz was a significant coast artillery bastion. Alcatraz was always a desolate place to be sentenced to, the Army used it for a stockade for military prisoners and Native Americans through out the time it controlled the island. In the 1930s the island was converted to a Federal penitentiary, which remained open until 1964. The island languished in neglect until the Native American protest take over in the 1970s. Finally, it was transferred to the National Park Service which gives tours of the prison facilities. A new tour program now allows for the visitation of some of the remaining Army structures on the island and most of the island has been opened to visitors.
City of San Francisco: The Treasure Island exit on the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Access by permission only.
Yerba Buena Island was used by the Army as it's first mining depot for mining San Francisco Bay. The Island is now under Navy jurisdiction and none of the Army structures are accessible.
Fort McDowell
Angel Island State Park: Ferries leave from both Fisherman's Wharf (summer only) in San Francisco and the City of Tiberion (all year) in Marin County.
Reserved in 1849 for military use, the island wasn't developed as a coastal defense position until the Civil War, when Camp Reynolds was established and four temporary artillery batteries were hastily built on the island. Later, three modern gun emplacements were built in the 1890s, and the post was named after Maj. Gen. Irwin McDowell, who commanded the Department of the Pacific beginning in 1864. The guns were removed by 1920 and the post served as an embarkation center for the Army and an isolation ward for immigrants and soldiers coming from the Far East. Later it was used as a Nike site.
Angel Island is now a California state park and is only accessible by boat or ferry from the mainland. The park is criscrossed with trails and roads and around every corner is something interestingómagnificent views; old buildings; Nike launch and radar facilities; a light house; gun emplacements; a old quarry and an impressive array of plant and animal life.
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- Golden Gate National Recreation Area: The Marin Headlands section of the GGNRA is accessible from exits off of US Highway 101 just to the north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Litigation over this property around Lime Point lasted from 1849 until 1866. When the Army finally gained control of the property, funds for the construction of a planned casemate fort were not available. The first emplacements were built in 1870 though these were not armed for long. When modern emplacements were built in the 1890s the post was named after Col. Edward Baker, a Senator from Oregon who died in an early Civil War battle. Today the land is part of GGNRA. Most of the old coast defense works can be visited.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area: Marin Headlands Visitor Center West Marin Headlands exit off of US 101, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Follow road signs to Fort Barry and Marin Headlands Visitor Center.
When the first set of modern coast defense works were being built in the 1890s, the Lime Point Reservation was split in half, the eastern half becoming Fort Baker and the western half becoming Fort Barry, named after Brevet Maj. Gen. William F. Barry, an Artillery veteran of the Civil War. The artillery emplacements of Fort Barry were built in the vicinity of Point Bonita. The 12 inch gun emplacements of Battery Wallace were built during the 1920s, the only long range defensive work built on the west coast during the period between the world wars. A new 16" emplacement (Battery 129) was built on the boundary between Barry and Baker during WW II. The 1950s brought a Nike launch site, Site SF-88, to Fort Barry, which today has been restored to working condition complete with Nike missiles inside.
Fort Barry's headland vistas give unsurpassed views of the Golden Gate and San Francisco. The complete separation from the urban areas imparts a nice feeling of being in the wilderness. Old military buildings and bunkers abound for the curious. Some of Fort Barry's buildings are currently used as a youth hostel. The chapel now houses the Marin Headlands visitor center.
Fort Cronkhite
Golden Gate National Recreation Area: Access via the Marin Headlands and Fort Barry.
The post is located just across Rodeo Lagoon from Fort Barry. Authorized as a separate post in 1937 with the construction of a new 16" emplacement on Tennessee Ridge and named after Maj. Gen. Adelbert Cronkhite, the post is a fine surviving example of WW II military architecture in contrast to Fort Barry's turn of the century style. Chronkhite's many buildings are used today for classrooms and seminars, and it is the starting point for many trails over the vast semiwilderness areas of the Marin Headlands.
Private and City property, City of Benicia: Follow signs through the City of Benicia off of Interstate 780
Established in the 1850s on the northern shore of San Francisco Bay, Benicia is included in this list for the sake of completeness. Although not technically a harbor defense post, it was the Army's principle west coast ordnance depot from 1850 until WW II. Benicia Arsenal served the Army's west coast needs until after well WW II, when the cramped space in the growing urban area forced the closure of the post. Today, the land has been developed into an industrial park for the city and port of Benicia. Many of the old buildings have been remodeled for use as offices and warehouses by the tenants of the park. The historical aspects and "flavor" of the old post is being preserved while the buildings are being used for new functional roles. A museum, which is open on weekends is housed in the old "camel barn" on the northern edge of the old reserve.
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(2) The Point San Jose battery was built of brick. It was buried sometime in the early part of the twentieth century. The National Park Service has uncovered it and is restoring the works today.
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Pintle Mounted Barbette Carriage |
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Pintle Mounted Barbette Carriage |
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Pintle Mounted Barbette Carriage |
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Pintle Mounted Barbette Carriage |
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Pintle Mounted Barbette Carriage |
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Pintle Mounted Barbette Carriage |
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Pintle Mounted Barbette Carriage |
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