Golden Gate National Recreation Area Historic Resource Study

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a unit of the U.S. National Park System. Comprising 82,116 acres of scenic lands spanning three counties: San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin, its boundaries encompass a wide variety of resources, ranging from pristine beaches to Civil War fortresses, and from shaded redwood groves to restored tidal marshes. Prominent units of the park include the San Francisco Presidio, Ft. Mason, Alcatraz Island, the Marin Headlands, and Rancho Corral de Tierra.

In 2023, the Organization of American Historians (OAH) hired VerPlanck Historic Preservation Consulting to write the introductory chapter for a new historic resource study (HRS) being developed by the National Park Service (NPS) for the GGNRA. This HRS, in contrast to earlier studies, deemphasizes the military history of the park in favor of a more nuanced social and cultural account that is focused on the untold stories of American Indian, Latino/a, African American, Asian American, and LGBTQ+ communities.

VerPlanck’s chapter, titled “Park Lands in Contrast,” sets the tone for the succeeding chapters, recounting the history of park lands within the context of the Bay Area from time immemorial to the present day.