Presidio of San Francisco in San Francisco City and County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)
Juana Briones
| — | Presidio of San Francisco | — |
Photographed by Alice Mansell, June 29, 2026
1. Juana Briones Marker
Caption correction: Briones adopted two native girls in 1838.
She secured her own lands and managed them herself… She had the native Spanish hospitality and dignity, which endeared her to her people to the end of the Mexican regime and secured for her an abiding place in the memories of the American pioneers. No other Spanish or Mexican woman in California is known to have reached her position and maintained it through life as did this widow. J.N. Bowman discussing Juana Briones in The Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly, September 1957.
Juana Briones (1802-1889) lived here between 1813 and 1820, from the age of 11 to 18. She was born near the Santa Cruz Mission, south of San Francisco. Following the death of her mother in 1812, her father moved his children to El Polin. In 1820, Juana married a Presidio soldier. In 1833, Juana and her husband obtained a land grant near here, where they developed gardens, orchards and a cattle ranch. Juana raised eight children and adopted a native California girl.
Juana became known as a curandera (Mexican folk healer)-she delivered babies, set broken bones, and treated people with herbal medicines. In 1844, Juana moved her
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Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior; Presidio of San Francisco.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Colonial Era • Hispanic Americans • Science & Medicine • Women. A significant historical month for this entry is September 1957.
Location. 37° 47.598′ N, 122° 27.334′ W. Marker is in San Francisco, California, in San Francisco City and County. It is in Presidio of San Francisco. It can be reached from El Polin Loop just south of MacArthur Avenue, on the right when traveling south. On a trail to El Polin Spring about 200’ from the end of MacArthur Avenue. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 8600 MacArthur Ave, San Francisco CA 94129, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is on California’s Coast Ranges. It is also on the American Pacific Coast. Globally, it is in North America, on the Ring of Fire, in the Pacific Rim, in the Western Hemisphere, in the Western
Photographed by Alice Mansell, June 29, 2026
2. Behind marker is a reconstructed remnant of a Spanish/Mexican adobe home
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Adobe House Site (within shouting distance of this marker); Daily Life in the Early 19th Century / La vida cotidiana en el siglo XIX (within shouting distance of this marker); Bachelor Officers' Quarters: Pershing Hall (approx. 0.3 miles away); Lover’s Lane (approx. 0.3 miles away); Pershing Hall (approx. 0.3 miles away); At Home in the Nineteenth Century Army (approx. 0.3 miles away); Old Post Chapel (approx. 0.3 miles away); Oldest Adobe Building in San Francisco (approx. 0.3 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in San Francisco.
More about this marker. One of a series of three historical markers about Spanish/Mexican residents associated with reconstructed remnants of an old adobe home.
Regarding Juana Briones. El Polin Spring was the primary source of fresh water for the San Francisco Presidio until after the USA occupied it during the Mexican American War. The spring is one of many nearby springs at the headlands of a wetlands full of medicinal plants along the Tennessee Valley (or “Hollows”) creek running into San Francisco Bay. Those plants were used by some female members of Briones’ family who worked as midwives and healers. The waters were also used for drinking, cooking and laundry as well as watering livestock. The El Polin riparian and wetlands habitat has been restored within the last ten years.
The subject’s full name is Juana de la Trinidad Briones de Miranda. She married Spanish soldier Apolinario Miranda in 1820 at San Francisco’s Mission Dolores. She obtained a divorce from him on the grounds of physical abuse and alcoholism.
Map on marker indicates she lived at “Mission San Jose” which was built in 1797 in Fremont, California not as the map marks as “Mission San Jose” located on the site where the Pueblo (village) of San Jose was founded in 1777 a short walk away from Mission Santa Clara also founded that same year. Historians often repeat the error that pueblo and mission were once co-located.
Briones took the U.S. government to the U.S. Supreme Court to prove her land rights in San Francisco which included land near the El Polin headwaters for a land claim crossing the San Francisco Presidio’s perimeter eastern wall which resulted in the wall’s indent along Lyon Street. Henry Halleck represented her for her land claims. He was an early investor and manager of the New Almaden quicksilver (mercury) mine near San Jose, California, a US Senator for both California and Oregon, and later during the U.S. Civil War he served as the US Army Chief of Staff. Briones died in a cattle stampede near the train station at Mayfield, a town later annexed to Palo Alto. She was buried at St. Denis church formerly on Sandhill Road in Menlo Park until her body was moved to nearby Holy Cross Cemetery. There is a park and an elementary school named for her in Palo Alto.
Additional keywords. San Francisco Presidio, El Polin trail
Credits. This page was last revised on July 19, 2026. It was originally submitted on July 16, 2026, by Alice Mansell of Los Altos, California. This page has been viewed 26 times since then. Last updated on July 17, 2026, by Alice Mansell of Los Altos, California. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on July 16, 2026, by Alice Mansell of Los Altos, California. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.
