BAY AREA PARKS AND MUSEUMS

©2003 RJ Best

Whether it's roaming bison or Impressionism, the San Francisco Bay Area probably has some form of museum or park to honor it.

Visit fine arts museums, aquariums, and beautiful parks that make nature the focus. Delight the kids with interactive museums designed just for them. Have a penchant for nautical history? The coastline offers a multitude of opportunities to see old ships and even learn sea chanteys!

The Bay Area's parks and museums are also a great way to discover how San Francisco came to be what it is today. Treat yourself and your family to a few days of exploration.

Golden Gate Recreation Area

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is the largest urban national park in the world. The total park area is 75,398 acres of land and water. Approximately 28 miles of coastline lie within its boundaries. It is nearly two and one-half times the size of San Francisco.

One of the nation's most highly visited National Park Service units, Golden Gate NRA comprises numerous sites, including Alcatraz, Marin Headlands, Fort Funston, Fort Mason, as well as Muir Woods National Monument, Fort Point National Historic Site, and the Presidio of San Francisco. Each has its own unique natural, cultural, and military history.

State of California Parks

California Department of Parks and Recreation manages more than 270 park units, which contain the finest and most diverse collection of natural, cultural, and recreational resources to be found within California. These treasures are as diverse as California: From the last stands of primeval redwood forests to vast expanses of fragile desert; from the lofty Sierra Nevada to the broad sandy beaches of our southern coast; and from the opulence of Hearst Castle to the vestiges of colonial Russia.

California State Parks contains the largest and most diverse natural and cultural heritage holdings of any state agency in the nation. State park units include underwater preserves, reserves, and parks; redwood, rhododendron, and wildlife reserves; state beaches, recreation areas, wilderness areas, and reservoirs; state historic parks, historic homes, Spanish era adobe buildings, including museums, visitor centers, cultural reserves, and preserves; as well as lighthouses, ghost towns, waterslides, conference centers, and off-highway vehicle parks. These parks protect and preserve an unparalleled collection of culturally and environmentally sensitive structures and habitats, threatened plant and animal species, ancient Native American sites, historic structures and artifacts . . . the best of California's natural and cultural history. State Parks in the Bay Area

Responsible for almost one-third of California's scenic coastline, California State Parks manages the state's finest coastal wetlands, estuaries, beaches, and dune systems. Our workplace consists of nearly 1.3 million acres, with over 280 miles of coastline; 625 miles of lake and river frontage; nearly 18,000 campsites; and 3,000 miles of hiking, biking, and equestrian trails.

City of San Francisco Parks

Recreation & Park Department. The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department’s mission is to provide enriching recreational activities, maintain beautiful parks and preserve the environment for the well-being of our diverse community.

Golden Gate Park - (Compliments CitySpan)

Golden Gate Park, one of the largest man-made parks in the world, was developed on a site consisting mostly of sand dunes. In 1870, when the 1017 acre area was selected, few people were in favor of its location. At that time San Francisco was only a fraction of its present size, and the park lay far beyond the city's developed limits.

The lush landscaping that characterizes the park today bears little resemblance to the former state of drifting sand and stiff winds. An entirely new ecological system had to be developed and sustained within the dunes; a monumental task thought by many to be impossible.

The initial design for Golden Gate Park was created by a young civil engineer named William Hammond Hall. He had been retained to prepare a survey and topographic map of the park site in 1870. The following year he became its first superintendent and remained in that position for five years. Innovative sand reclamation techniques were applied to the dunes and gradually they were brought under control. By 1876 when William Hammond Hall resigned, Golden Gate Park had already become very popular and its developed areas were heavily used, even though transportation to the park was still difficult. During the following ten years Golden Gate Park had three superintendents. Funding was extremely short during this period and the parks, roads, buildings, and planted areas suffered from neglect. Finally Hall was requested by the Parks Commission to make an evaluation of the condition of the park and appoint a new superintendent. For a brief period he took over the direction of the park again, and, before his final departure, selected John McLaren as his successor.

John McLaren was born in Scotland in 1846. As a young man he apprenticed as landscape gardener and, when he came to California in 1872 at the age of 26, continued to work in that profession. In 1887, when he was selected to take over the management of the park, he was already well known and had managed a number of major estates in the Bay Area. Golden Gate Park became the great love of his life and he was to devote the next fifty years to its development. McLaren was a man of considerable strength of character who inspired emotions which ranged from hatred to great admiration. Under his guidance, Golden Gate Park came to maturity and remains as a monument to his skill in landscape design and his love of nature.

In 1894, the Midwinter International Exposition was held in Golden Gate Park. The 266-foot high tower of electricity was a major feature of this 200 acre fair which included over 100 temporary buildings as well as a lively midway. When the fair closed after six months, only the Japanese Village and the Fine Arts building were preserved, later to become the Japanese Tea Garden and the M.H. de Young Museum.

Following the April 18, 1906 earthquake and fire, Golden Gate Park became a temporary haven for approximately 200,000 people left homeless by the disaster. By April 25, the number had declined to 40.000, most of whom lived in tents in designated areas of the park. While the citizens of San Francisco rebuilt their city, the children spent their days in tent schools and tended garden plots assigned to them by John McLaren.

©2002 RJ Best

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