The pet cemetery has been in this spot for over 70 years now, surviving eras of active use, neglect, and restoration. It has been closed to new burials since 1994, but some San Franciscans have continued to bury their pets there despite health concerns.
The history of this sacred space
The pet cemetery was established in 1952, in the Presidio’s post-WWII era. At the time, the Presidio was still an active military base and it was undergoing big changes. As the baby boom was happening around the country, more families began living on the base.
“This was a time when the Presidio really took on a character of a community that had families,” says Rob Thomson, a Federal Preservation Officer for the Presidio Trust.
It was during this era that Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Swing established the pet cemetery so the military families on base could lay their beloved pets to rest.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the cemetery was stewarded by Boy Scout Troop 70. Families could pay a fee of $1 and scouts would dig a grave and bury the pet. Many of the graves from this era can still be seen there today.
The grave markers often contain sweet anecdotes about the pet being memorialized.
One headstone has a poem about Raspberry, the basset hound.
“It’s true, my basset has gone away.
I know we had to part, but she’ll be with me every day
within my loving heart.”
Another reads, “Frodo was a good turtle.” Another simply says, “We know love, we had this little dog.”
At some point, the Boy Scouts stopped tending to the grounds, and by the 1970s, after decades of use, the pet cemetery began to fall into disrepair. Phil Gioia remembers running past the cemetery in 1975 while he was stationed at the Presidio and says it was dilapidated and spooky. Many of the wooden gravestones had rotted and fallen.
It seemed like the cemetery had become a forgotten piece of land under the freeway overpass, and it may slowly turn to dust — but then life sprang anew.
Around 1976, a mysterious veteran was spotted caring for the space. He replaced rotting grave markers and tidied up the landscaping. He was mentioned in the Presidio’s newspaper, The Star Presidian, but chose to remain anonymous. He told the newspaper that he wasn’t hoping to gain praise or notoriety but simply wanted to honor the memory of his own dog by caring for the cemetery.
Years later, Phil Gioia went back to the Presidio to bury his own beloved cat, Fremont. The stocky tabby was a polite and gentle cat named after famous explorer and military officer, John C. Fremont. After living for 16 years, Fremont the cat was laid to rest in the Presidio Pet Cemetery on Halloween.
“I’m sure he’s up there in cat heaven playing a harp with all the other cats, having a good time,” Gioia says.
From military base to national park, the pet cemetery lives on
In 1994, the Presidio transitioned from a military base to a national park and as massive renovations changed the Presidio, the pet cemetery remained. Since then, the Presidio Trust has worked to maintain the cemetery by carefully protecting it during construction projects in the area and by bringing the community together to restore the space.
Rob Thomson, from the Presidio Trust, says that the pet cemetery officially closed to new burials in 1994. However, if you look at the dates on many of the grave markers, it seems that, in practice, that might not be true. Many of the grave markers in the cemetery memorialize pets well into the 2000s. Some online Reddit posters even talk about clandestinely going to bury their pets there, too.
However, Thompson says this is very unsafe due to lead contamination in the cemetery’s dirt.
Prior to the construction of Presidio Parkway, the Doyle Drive overpass ran directly above the cemetery. Originally built in 1936, lead paint was used in its construction and contaminated the soil down below. Even after its demolition in 2012, digging in the pet cemetery can still pose health risks.
“It’s not in anybody’s interest to be digging around in the dirt out here,” says Thompson.
He warns, “It’s just not a healthy place for people to be digging in the dirt. So, we really discourage people from putting new burials in here. That being said, this is your national park … come here to enjoy the Presidio, but stay above ground.”