Presidio Pet Cemetery, San Francisco

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Tucked away in the Presidio of San Francisco is a pet cemetery that seldom is seen. I’ve driven past it numerous times and have always meant to stop and photograph it. This weekend I finally took the time to take a closer look with my camera in hand. Having three dogs it’s tough to think about a pet passing away, but as I looked through the cemetery I was touched by the heart felt messages left for pets by their owners. The oldest gravestone that I saw was from the early 1940’s when the Presidio was an active military base. If you’re curious to learn more about the Presidio pet cemetery check out the following links:

Cultural History of the Presidio Pet Cemetery – National Park Service

Headstones of the Presidio Pet Cemetery of San Francisco – Honan.net

Presidio Pet Cemetery: Lost photograph by Jim M. Goldstein

Presidio Pet Cemetery photograph by Jim M. Goldstein

Presidio Pet Cemetery: Devoted Pet photograph by Jim M. Goldstein

Presidio Pet Cemetery: Fritz photograph by Jim M. Goldstein

Presidio Pet Cemetery: Knuckle Head photograph by Jim M. Goldstein

Presidio Pet Cemetery: Mac Shag photograph by Jim M. Goldstein

Presidio Pet Cemetery: To Love photograph by Jim M. Goldstein

Technorati Tags: San Francisco, Presidio, Pet, Cemetery, photo, memorial,

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Posted by Jim on 07.16.2007 at 1:31 am
Tagged: California, Photography, San Francisco

http://www.rwongphoto.com/fieldreport Richard

Great shots Jim. better than what I got. I tried to get some wide shots as well but never quite found the right angle.
http://www.jmg-galleries.com jim

Richard it was fun getting out and shooting with you. When you get your pictures online point me to them. I hope you got the other mission photos you were after. I’d imagine it was sunny in Marin as predicted?
Cindy

You really captured the emotional aspect of the pet-semetary with the first shot (the toy stuffed animal) and the last shot (with the quotation).
http://www.rwongphoto.com/fieldreport Richard

lol man, it was like 85 in San Rafael. went from 55 degrees to 85 in ten minutes. Diddn’t have time to get up to Sonoma, but China Camp SP was pretty cool as well. I’ll have to do Sonoma next time I come up this way as I suspect that would be an entire day trip.

the weather has been miserable for photography. last night I got like one shot of rodeo beach if that, because of all the water vapor flying in the air.
sharon looney ward

Hi – found your website and had to respond. My Dad had just returned from Korea in the spring of 1952 when he was ordered to oversee the construction of the pet cemetery while he was living at the base. When he first told me of doing the job I thought it strange that the military would fund such a project. But when I went looking for it today, I was surprised that it was still there. After doing some reading, it seems that no one knows when it came into existance or whether a previous burial ground was already there. Dad says it was nothing but a hillside when he went to work on it. And they didn’t run into any old graves during construction. Anyway, I thought you might be interested.