San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park

San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is a maritime history site at Aquatic Park Cove, covering an information center, a research facility, and several old ships docked at Hyde Street Pier. The ships sit in the water and can be toured most days, while the other buildings spread along the old waterfront district.

The federal government took over management in the late 1980s, after the city had run its own collection of maritime objects and ships for decades. The ships themselves date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when San Francisco served as a major port for cargo and passengers.

The name comes from the city's seafaring past, when hundreds of sailing ships and steamers moved through San Francisco Bay. Visitors can step aboard the vessels and see how sailors lived, worked, and supplied the West Coast with goods.

The entrance sits at the corner of Hyde and Jefferson, where you can pick up maps and ask questions about the facilities. Most visitors spend two to three hours touring the ships and the center, with flat pathways making access easier to most areas.

One of the cargo ships was originally built as a ferry and later carried cars and trains across the bay before bridges took over the traffic. Another vessel sailed as far as Alaska, bringing supplies to remote coastal towns that were hard to reach by land.

Location: San Francisco

Inception: 1978

Official opening: 1988

Operator: National Park Service

Website: https://nps.gov/safr

GPS coordinates: 37.80650,-122.42339

Latest update: December 5, 2025 22:29