The Presidio of San Francisco is celebrating its 250th anniversary

Across the United States this yr, individuals are planning to have fun the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. While a lot of the concentrate on site-specific celebrations shall be on the East Coast, there’s an vital West Coast connection to 1776. Spain additionally established El Presidio de San Francisco in 1776 to protect San Francisco Bay from British, Russian, and French incursions into Alta California, a province comprising modern-day California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and components of Arizona. 

The similar yr additionally marks the unofficial founding of San Francisco. In March 1776, the websites for each El Presidio and the Misión San Francisco de Asís (often known as Mission Dolores) have been scouted by a bunch from Mexico led by Juan Bautista de Anza throughout a colonizing expedition by the Spanish Empire. On June 29, 1776, a Catholic Mass was held on the mission web site, marking the institution of town, just a few days earlier than the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The settlement started to develop across the mission, and was integrated as San Francisco in 1850 throughout the California Gold Rush.

“The connection between San Francisco and the Presidio is more permeable, I think, than many people realize,” says Woody LaBounty, president and CEO of San Francisco Heritage, a nonprofit with a mission to protect and improve town’s architectural and cultural identification. “With today’s boundaries of a national park, one might believe that it’s an entity apart, but there’s always been an active interplay between the Presidio and the city itself. The two are very much a single entity together.” 

Understanding historical past by means of preservation

El Presidio grew to become the executive middle for the massive colonial district of New Spain, stretching from the northern reaches of San Francisco Bay eastward into the Central Valley of California and south alongside the Pacific coast towards Monterey Bay. El Presidio was accountable for defending six missions, a number of pueblos, and lots of ranchos. The northern enlargement of the Spanish Empire helped form what was later to grow to be the American West. 

“The Spanish Empire had a tenuous grasp of this region, as it was New Spain’s northernmost territory,” says Rob Thompson, federal preservation officer for the Presidio Trust, an company that manages the park in partnership with the National Park Service. The Presidio modified arms in 1821 when Mexico gained its independence, and some years later, it was first occupied by the U.S. Army in 1846.

Over practically three many years, preservation efforts have revealed extra of the Presidio’s historical past. “The depth and continuity of human history here began thousands of years ago with the Indigenous Ramaytush Ohlone peoples, to Spanish military and Mexican military, United States military, and now as part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It’s all traced through the archaeological record, with each period as a chapter in the Presidio’s overall story,” says Thompson. The Presidio Trust manages greater than 30 archaeological areas inside the Presidio National Historic Landmark District, together with the unique Spanish Colonial web site of El Presidio, in addition to Indigenous shell mounds, cemeteries, and coastal forts. 

Archaeological artifacts and digging for historical past

“So much of our work is making the intangible tangible,” says Kari Jones, lead archaeologist for the Presidio Trust. “We like to think of ourselves as storytellers of long-term, deep histories—the longer arc of a story.” It’s not all the time simple for guests to think about how the Presidio expanded by means of the years, so Presidio Trust archaeologists assist inform its story by means of their work behind the scenes and with public applications. Archaeologists additionally observe development to make sure delicate websites are protected throughout park enchancment tasks, together with infrastructure, historic buildings, and open areas. 

A latest excavation, spanning from 2014 by means of 2018, passed off in Pershing Square throughout from the park’s oldest constructing, the Presidio Officers’ Club. Within the boundaries of El Presidio, the dig uncovered components of the unique Spanish colonial fort, and Presidio Trust archaeologists are nonetheless processing the artifacts. Only two to 5 p.c of the positioning has been excavated thus far. “We dig only when we have compelling questions that we want answered,” says Jones. 

The Presidio Trust’s collections embody multiple million objects and their related information, representing many intervals in California’s historical past: the biggest collections of Spanish Colonial- and Mexican Republican-era archaeological artifacts and related information in California, documenting not solely structure but in addition day by day life, foodways, and Indigenous-colonial encounters. The collections have gaming items, earthenware ceramics, Chinese export porcelain, a bone from the paw of a grizzly bear, and Minié balls—hollow-based bullets for muzzle-loaded rifles. The objects rotate by means of the Presidio History Exhibition within the Officers’ Club, which explores American historical past from a West Coast perspective. 

“Preservation isn’t about buildings alone because they’re nothing without the people,” says LaBounty. “And when you talk about people, you have to talk about all the elements of what makes us interesting and unique, and how different cultures come together at times throughout history.” San Francisco’s colonial historical past with Spain might differ from the historical past of the Indigenous individuals who preceded Europeans, in addition to from the historical past of the 13 British colonies and the origin story of the United States, however collectively they’re a part of the whole story of the nation.

(For the very best wild swimming spot in San Francisco, ask the Dolphin Club.)