The Anza Expedition Camped Here
This place and its vicinity have abundant pasturage and fine water, all good advantages for establishing here the presidio or fort which is planned. It lacks only timber, for there is not a tree in all those hills...nearby the lake there are yerba buena and so many lilies that I had them almost inside my tent.
Father Pedro Font, March 28, 1776
In March 1776, Spanish Lt. Col. Juan Bautista de Anza arrived at the Golden Gate. He had delivered 30 settler families some 1,800 miles from present-day Mexico to establish El Presidio Real de San Francisco. Anza, Franciscan missionary Pedro Font, and a small scouting party camped along the cool shores of Mountain Lake while they scouted a suitable location for the new fort.
The Route
Anza's 240 settlers with 695 horses and mules and 358 cattle walked 1,800 miles in eight months. The party included 150 children and eight pregnant women. The Anza route is now a National Historic Trail.
Yerba Buena
Clinopodium douglasii
The city we know today began with the creation
of the Presidio military garrison, a nearby mission,
and later a tiny pueblo known as Yerba Buena,
named after a local native plant. The pueblo was
Presidio of San Francisco and Mission Dolores
March 27, 1776
later renamed "San Francisco."
Erected by Presidio Trust, National Park Service.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Exploration. In addition, it is
this page online
Location. 37° 47.239′ N, 122° 28.251′ W. Marker is in San Francisco, California, in San Francisco City and County. It is in Presidio Terrace. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: San Francisco CA 94118, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within one mile of this marker, measured as the crow flies. San Francisco's First People (a few steps from this marker); Juan Bautista de Anza (within shouting distance of this marker); St. John’s Presbyterian Church (approx. 0.6 miles away); The San Francisco Columbarium (approx. 0.9 miles away); Post Chapel (approx. one mile away); Old Post Chapel (approx. one mile away); Bachelor Officers' Quarters: Pershing Hall (approx. one mile away); At Home in the Nineteenth Century Army (approx. one mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in San Francisco.
More about this marker. The marker is in the Presidio on the southern side of Mountain Lake, on the Mountain Lake trail, about even with the middle of the tennis courts, as one is facing the lake.
Also see . . . Anza Trail Historic Sites in California (National Park Service). (Submitted on August 24, 2020.)
Credits. This page was last revised on February 7, 2023. It was originally submitted on August 24, 2020, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California. This page has been viewed 155 times since then and 19 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on August 24, 2020, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California.
