Following in My Great-Grandparents’ Footsteps: An Afternoon at Strawberry Hill in Golden Gate Park

Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Blog Post #59

By Tonya McQuade

We enjoyed the views as we hiked to the top of Strawberry Hill

In an earlier blog post titled A Historic Trek: The Amazing Honeymoon of W.F. Traughber and Nora Petree Traughber in 1905, Part III, I wrote about my great grandparents’ visit to San Francisco as part of their four-week honeymoon. Some of the places they visited, such as the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, I had visited before. However, their photos also showed them atop “Strawberry Hill” and beside a lake at Strawberry Hill in Golden Gate Park that I had never seen before.

As I wrote in that 1 Oct 2024 blog post, Strawberry Hill “occupies an entire island in one of the park's man-made lakes and is connected to the mainland of the park by two bridges. Named for the many wild strawberries that used to grow there, the island is covered with a variety of trees and shrubbery. Several trails and dirt steps encircle the island and lead to the top of the hill. Strawberry Hill’s summit measures more than 400 feet in height and offers great views of the surrounding area.” 

A view of San Francisco from Strawberry Hill, Golden Gate Park, Aug. 26, '05.

I also wrote about how Frank and Nora would have enjoyed the view in their photo above from Sweeny’s Observatory, a “mini-castle of red-tinted concrete,” dedicated on September 19, 1891, atop Strawberry Hill.  As described online, “A gravel path wound up the hill to lead carriages between bastion towers into an oval of windows. Visitors had dozens of frames to enjoy the 360˚ view in slices. From a distance, the observatory appeared as a decorative crown on the hill or a half-collapsed fortification from antiquity. A glassed-in second story was added in 1892 to offer visitors a more elevated prospect. A plaque set in the crenelated entry arch read “Park Panorama, Gift of Thos. U. Sweeny, 1891.” [1]

I wondered at the time why I had never seen this observatory, then quickly realized the reason: the observatory fell down in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, less than eight months after Frank and Nora took in the panoramic views from its many windows. However, the lake and waterfall they saw are still there – though the lake now has a different name. 

The April 18, 1906 earthquake caused significant damage to Sweeny Observatory. [2]

The lake was originally called Stow Lake after William W. Stow, who was a State Assembly Member between 1854 and 1857 served on San Francisco’s Park Commission in the 1890s, and gave $60,000 for its construction. However, in January of 2024, San Francisco Recreation and Park commissioners voted to rename it Blue Heron Lake after concerns were raised about Stow’s anti-semitism.  The new name was chosen because “blue Herons nest on Stow Lake’s Strawberry Hill in April and May, and are a symbol of resilience, progress and evolution for the indigenous community.” [3] 

That earlier blog post also mentioned that Frank and Nora most likely also enjoyed a view of Huntington Falls, a 110-foot tall artificial waterfall installed in Golden Gate Park that drops into the lake. The waterfall was named after railroad baron Collis Potter Huntington, who donated $25,000 to its construction. It was the vision of Park Superintendent John McLaren, who decided to incorporate artificial lakes, waterways, and waterfalls in Golden Gate Park after hiking in the Sierras with famed naturalist John Muir, who is considered Father of the National Parks. 

So, why am I sharing all of this again? Because on our visit to San Francisco in late December, Mike and I finally made it to the top of Strawberry Hill!  We also took in the panoramic views of San Francisco and the beautiful lake below, but the waterfall was unfortunately not running that day. It was all part of the “family heritage day” I planned for us, which also included visiting several places tied to Mike’s family (see this 3 Jan 2026 blog post).

To read the rest of this post, head over to my website:

https://www.tonyagrahammcquade.com/blog-chasing-history/following-in-my-great-grandparents-footsteps-an-afternoon-at-strawberry-hill-in-golden-gate-park