San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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Historic ships docked at Hyde Street Pier, San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park
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Location | San Francisco, California, USA |
Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
Area | 50 acres (20 ha)[1] |
Established | June 27, 1988 |
Visitors | 4,224,897 (in 2011)[2] |
Governing body | National Park Service |
http://www.nps.gov/safr/ | |
Official name | Aquatic Park Historic District |
Designated | January 26, 1984 |
Reference no. | 84001183[3] |
Official name | San Francisco Maritime National Historic Site |
Designated | June 27, 1988 |
Reference no. | 01000281[4] |
The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located in San Francisco, California, USA. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility. The park is sometimes referred to as the San Francisco Maritime Museum, its former 1951 name that changed in 1978 when the collections were acquired by the National Park Service. Today's San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park was authorized in 1988; the maritime museum is among the park's many cultural resources. The park also incorporates the Aquatic Park Historic District, bounded by Van Ness Avenue, Polk Street, and Hyde Street.
Contents
Historic vessel fleet
The historic fleet of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is moored at the park's Hyde Street Pier. The fleet consists of the following major vessels:
- Balclutha, an 1886 built square rigged sailing ship.
- C.A. Thayer, an 1895 built schooner.
- Eureka, an 1890 built steam ferryboat.
- Alma, an 1891 built scow schooner.
- Hercules, a 1907 built steam tug.
- Eppleton Hall, a 1914 built paddlewheel tug.
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Square rig sailing ship Balclutha -
Lumber schooner C.A. Thayer
The fleet also includes over one hundred small craft.
Visitor Center
The Visitor Center is housed in the park's 1909 waterfront warehouse, located at the corner of Hyde and Jefferson Streets. The City of San Francisco declared the four-story brick structure an historic landmark in 1974, and the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Inside, exhibits (including a first order Fresnel lighthouse lens and a shipwrecked boat) tell the story of San Francisco’s colorful and diverse maritime heritage. The visitor center also contains a theater and a ranger-staffed information desk.
Maritime Museum
The maritime museum was until recently housed in a Streamline Moderne (late Art Deco) building that is the centerpiece of the Aquatic Park Historic District, a National Historic Landmark at the foot of Polk Street and a minute's walk from the visitor center and Hyde Street Pier. The building was originally built (starting in 1936) by the WPA as a public bathhouse, and its interior is decorated with fantastic and colorful murals, created primarily by artist and color theoretician Hilaire Hiler. The architects were William Mooser Jr. and William Mooser III.
The Steamship Room illustrates the technological evolution of maritime power from wind to steam, while the second-floor displays include three photomurals of the early San Francisco waterfront, lithographic stones, scrimshaw and whaling guns. The third-floor gallery is used for visiting exhibitions and in 2005 exhibited "Sparks", an exhibition of shipboard radio, radiotelephone, and radioteletype technology.
The Maritime Museum has re-opened after a series of renovations.
Maritime Research Center
The Maritime Research Center focuses on sail and steam on the West Coast of the United States and the Pacific Basin from 1520 to the present, including library collections and the archived records of many ship builders and ship owners. It includes 1,500 feet (460 m) of documents, including 120,000 vessel and shipyard architectural drawings, and about 5,000 charts and maps.
Supporting associations
The park is supported by several cooperating associations. One of these is the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association.
Location and access
The Visitors Center, Hyde Street Pier and Maritime Museum are all situated adjacent to the foot of Hyde Street and at the western end of the Fisherman's Wharf district. The park headquarters and Maritime Research Center are located in Fort Mason, some 10 minutes walk to the west of the other sites. The Beach and Hyde Street terminal of the San Francisco cable car system adjoins the main site, while the Jones Street terminal of the F Market historic streetcar line is some 5 minutes walk to the east.
Opening times and fees for the various sites can be found on the park's website, see 'External links' below.
Open Water Swimming
Aquatic Park is a popular place for open water swimming, both for recreation and training. The South End Rowing Club and Dolphin Club are located in Aquatic Park.
See also
References
Bibliography
Bill Pickelhaupt, "San Francisco's Aquatic Park," Charleston, SC, 2005, ISBN 0-7385-3084-0
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
- NPS: official San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park website
- NPS: Aquatic Park Historic District
- San Francisco Dolphin Club — bay swimming club based at Aquatic Park.
- WPA murals and sculpture at Aquatic Park — The New Deal Art Registry.
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- IUCN Category V
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
- Parks in San Francisco, California
- National Historical Parks of the United States
- Maritime museums in California
- Museums in San Francisco, California
- Open-air museums in California
- Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco
- San Francisco Bay
- National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco, California
- Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in California
- Maritime history of California
- Protected areas established in 1978
- National Park Service areas in California
- Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums
- Lincoln Highway
- 1978 establishments in California