Fort Point, San Francisco, CA

 Fort Point National Historic Site sits just under the famous red bridge at the entrance to the Golden Gate. The "Golden Gate" actually refers to the narrow entrance between the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. The fort was built in 1853, many years before the bridge was built. The gate is an important location, so the fort was built to guard against any attacks made on the San Francisco Bay. The fort never saw any actual battles and was preserved by the NPS in 1970.

In the 1930's, planning for the Golden Gate Bridge began and Fort Point was set to be demolished. However, Joseph Straus, the engineer who designed the Golden Gate Bridge, saw the historical significance of the fort and carefully designed the bridge around it. Because of that, the fort has very unique views of the bridge from up close and underneath!

  

  

  

  

  

We loved spending a few hours exploring Fort Point and learning the history behind it. It is completely free to visit, there is no entrance fee or cost to park. It offers some impressive views of the bridge and the Jr. Ranger program was pretty fun! We were also told it's a fairly short walk to get up to the entrance of the bridge if you want to walk across it. Overall, if you're a fan of history or free things to do in San Francisco, definitely add this stop to your itinerary.