The Barbary Coast Trail is a designated path that connects 20 historic sites and local history museums in San Francisco, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. Approximately 180 bronze medallions and arrows embedded in the sidewalk mark the 3.8-mile (6.1 km) trail.

The historic sites of the Barbary Coast Trail relate primarily to the period from the California Gold Rush

California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

 of 1849 to the Earthquake and Fire of 1906

1906 San Francisco earthquake

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...

, a period when San Francisco grew from a small village to the busiest port on the West Coast.

Sites along the trail include the Old Mint, a national historic landmark; Union Square; Maiden Lane; Old St. Mary's, first Catholic cathedral West of the Rockies; T'ien Hou temple, first Asian temple in North America; Wells Fargo History Museum; Pony Express

Pony Express

The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 3, 1860 to October 1861...

 headquarters site; Jackson Square Historic District, which contains the last cluster of Gold Rush and Barbary Coast-era buildings in San Francisco; Old Ship Saloon, once a shanghaiing den; Coit Tower

Coit Tower

Coit Tower is a tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The tower, in the city's Pioneer Park, was built in 1933 at the request of Lillie Hitchcock Coit to beautify the city of San Francisco; Coit bequeathed one-third of her estate to the city "to be expended in an...

; Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California

Fisherman's Wharf is a neighborhood and popular tourist attraction in San Francisco, California. It roughly encompasses the northern waterfront area of San Francisco from Ghirardelli Square or Van Ness Avenue east to Pier 35 or Kearny Street...

; SF Maritime National Historical Park

San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park

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...

, which maintains a large collection of historic ships; and Ghirardelli Square

Ghirardelli Square

Ghirardelli Square is a landmark with shops and restaurants in the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco, California, USA. A portion of the area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Pioneer Woolen Mills and D. Ghirardelli Company....

.

Each end of the Barbary Coast Trail is connected by the Hyde-Powell cable car

Cable car

A cable car is any of a variety of transportation systems relying on cables to pull vehicles along or lower them at a steady rate, or a vehicle on these systems.-Aerial lift:Aerial lifts where the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable:...

 line, itself a national historic landmark.

History

The Barbary Coast Trail was founded by historian Daniel Bacon in collaboration with the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society. The trail was inaugurated in May 1998 and originally marked with painted images. The first 150 bronze medallions to mark the trail were installed by 2000. The medallions were designed by Daniel Bacon and illustrator Jim Blair.

See also

• Chinatown
  Chinatown, San Francisco, California
  San Francisco's Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese community outside Asia. Since its establishment in 1848, it has been highly important and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants to the United States and North America...
  
  
• Portsmouth Square
  Portsmouth Square
  Portsmouth Square is a one-block park in Chinatown, San Francisco, California, that is bounded by Kearny Street on the east, Washington Street on the north, Clay Street on the south, and Walter Lum Place on the west....
  
  
• The Embarcadero
  The Embarcadero (San Francisco)
  The Embarcadero is the eastern waterfront and roadway of the Port of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, along San Francisco Bay, constructed atop an engineered seawall on reclaimed land, and derives its name from the Spanish verb embarcar, meaning "to embark"...
  
  
• Nob Hill
  Nob Hill, San Francisco, California
  Nob Hill refers to a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, centered on the intersection of California and Powell streets. It is one of San Francisco's 44 hills, and one of its original "Seven Hills."-Location :...
  
  
• Hallidie Plaza
  Andrew Smith Hallidie
  Andrew Smith Hallidie was the promoter of the Clay Street Hill Railroad in San Francisco, USA. This was the world's first practical cable car system, and Hallidie is often therefore regarded as the inventor of the cable car and father of the present day San Francisco cable car system, although...
  
  
• International Settlement
  International Settlement
  International Settlement may refer to:* International Settlement , a red light district in San Francisco* Shanghai International Settlement, territory in Shanghai leased to Britain and the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries...
  
  

External links