Aquatic Park Tombstones

What you need to know

Headstones Built Into a Seawall

The seawall and walkways at Aquatic Park contain actual tombstones, repurposed headstones from San Francisco’s 19th-century cemeteries. When the city relocated its cemeteries to Colma in the early 1900s, the displaced grave markers were reused as construction material throughout the city. At Aquatic Park, you can spot them embedded in the concrete paths and retaining walls along the waterfront.

What Makes It Worth It

Once you know what to look for, you start seeing them everywhere. Names, dates, fragments of inscriptions. Pieces of granite and marble from the 1800s, now underfoot on a park walkway. Some are readable. Most are worn smooth or partially buried in concrete. It’s unsettling to realize you’re walking on someone’s headstone while watching people swim in the bay.

San Francisco recycled cemetery headstones all over the city, in Buena Vista Park, along Ocean Beach, and in various construction projects. Aquatic Park is one of the easiest places to spot them because the seawall construction left many stones partially exposed.

A 5-minute detour while you’re already at Aquatic Park or nearby Fisherman’s Wharf. Look along the seawall and the paths near the Maritime Museum.

Skip this if you’re squeamish about walking on grave markers. They’re literally underfoot.

Visiting

Address: Aquatic Park, foot of Polk Street, Fisherman’s Wharf

Hours: Always accessible

Cost: Free

Best time to go: Low sun (morning or late afternoon) makes the inscriptions easier to read in the stone.

What to know: The tombstones are scattered, not concentrated in one spot. Walk slowly along the seawall and look down. Some are more obvious than others.

Getting There

Transit: Muni F-Market streetcar to Beach and Hyde. Powell-Hyde cable car terminates a block away.

Parking: Fisherman’s Wharf garages on Beach and North Point.

Walking: Adjacent to Ghirardelli Square, the Maritime Museum, and the Hyde Street Pier.

📍 Location: This activity is in Fisherman’s Wharf. Explore the neighborhood →