San Francisco
San Francisco Map
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A Brief History of San Francisco
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Note, map is not to scale, it is just to give you an idea where everything is

Attractions
Alcatraz Island Angel Island Berkeley Botanical Gardens
The Bay Bridge Cable Cars A Castle? Castro District
Civic Center/ City Hall Coit Tower Conservatory of Flowers Crissy Field
The Embarcadero Embarcadaro Center Ferry Building Financial District/Down Town
Fisherman's Wharf Area Fort Point Field Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Park Grace Cathedral Haight District
Victoran Homes
Legion of Honor
Lombard Street Marina District Marin Headlands Mission Dolores
Nob Hill Noe Valley Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Oakland
Pac Bell/SBC Park Point Lobos Cliffs Pacific Heights Palace of Fine Arts
Pier 39 St. Peter & Paul St. Dominic's Cathedral Sutro Baths/Cliff House
Telegraph Hill The Transamerican Pyramid Waterfront Views of the City Yurba Buena and Treasure Islands
St. Mary's College
Traditional Spanish Mission Buildings

     The first people to live in the San Francisco Bay area were the Ohlone Indians. These Indians were spread all throughout the bay area and you can still see their artifacts, as well as tributes to them, through out they bay. Unfortunately for the Ohlone, San Francisco Bay discovered by Spanish explorers looking for a safe harbor to rest on their long journey up the California Coast. In the search for this harbor they discovered a large inland sea with large mountains on all sides. They soon realized that not only was this a safe harbor to wait out storms, but it was a point of strategic importance. The first European settlers settled in 1776 to found the Presidio of San Francisco and Mission Dolores. The Presidio(by Fort Point) was intended to be the military stronghold to defend this bountiful land from "foreign" invaders and the mission's goal was the same as every other Spanish mission. An interesting side note, the original name of this settlement was called Yerba Buena. This name didn't change to San Francisco on maps until the late 1800's. The reason for this name change, I can not find.

   The settlement was small until January 24, 1848 when a man named James Marshall discovered gold in the flumes of his employers saw mill. News of this discovery slowly leaked out and in 1849 California was inundated by Argonauts. One of the primary entry ways was through the Golden Gate. Some emigrants stayed in San Francisco because they saw profit in providing services to would be Argonauts just arriving. Others returned to prosper to after the gold rush died down. What ever the reasons, this sleepy little settlement was never the same. Its population exploded and has never stooped growing since. (Note for more information on who the forty niners were and their influence on San Francisco, please see my article on the California Gold Rush, "They Came To See An Elephant".

   San Francisco is a truly a multi cultural town. And those mixing cultures apparent where ever you go. San Francisco is also known for its beauty, as well as its history. In my pages I have tried to capture all of these aspects of the city by the bay. In my travels through the city I took pictures of what appealed to me as a visitor to the city. I tried to integrate the history or significance of the whenever I could. However, unlike most of my travels, I am researching the history after I have visited the city instead of before. So my history of some places may be incomplete. One last word, I encourage you to visit every site on my map of the city. You may not have ever heard of some of the places, but I took pictures of points of interest or beauty that many tourists to the city miss.

Copyright August 1998, Updated April 3, 2005