Breathtaking views at Presidio’s 6-acre Battery Bluff park now open to public

The new 6-acre Presidio Battery Bluff park opened to the public Saturday, offering visitors sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and Angel Island.

Mayor London Breed joined city and Presidio Trust leaders Friday morning, on Earth Day, to cut the garland and celebrate the park’s opening. Presidio Trust officials said another park, Tunnel Tops, is set to open in July just across Battery Bluff.

The new park sits above the Presidio Parkway, which replaced the old Doyle Drive stretch of U.S. Highway 101 in 2015. 

Michael Boland, chief of park development for the Presidio Trust, said Friday morning in his opening remarks to an audience of those involved in with the project:

“What a more spectacular way to celebrate an Earth Day than opening a new park over a freeway? How often does that happen?”

From 1899 to 1902, the U.S. Army built gun batteries in the Presidio to protect the San Francisco Bay as the U.S. was increasingly becoming a global power. The four built in Battery Bluff include the Slaughter, Baldwin, Sherwood and Blaney. The guns were never fired during battle and were eventually removed in 1920.

The public can visit Battery Bluff now for the first time since 1936 and see where the guns were once located. The batteries, often graffitied on, were cleaned and repaired as part of the project.

Picnic tables, benches, new landscaping and trails have been added to the park space.

Breed said the area is no longer a place where cars pass through a freeway:

“It’s a place where people walk and picnic and bike, and throw the ball around and hang out and just enjoy life.”

The new park is located near the San Francisco National Cemetery on Lincoln Boulevard and Sheridan Avenue — just below is Chrissy Field.

Battery Bluff is one of three park projects atop the Presidio Parkway tunnels. Quartermaster Reach opened in December 2020 and Tunnel Tops will be the final park to open, Presidio Trust officials said.

More information about Battery Bluff can found on the Presidio’s website.