El Polin Spring
San Francisco, California, United States
A spring in the Presidios Tennessee Hollow holding the parks oldest story layers, from Ohlone use through Spanish-colonial days to a miracle-spring folklore.
El Polin Spring rises in the Tennessee Hollow watershed of the Presidio of San Francisco, and the archaeological record around it is dense: Ohlone use of the springs, Spanish-colonial occupation, and the layers of the military post that grew around them. The Presidio Trust's archaeology program documented the site through years of excavation, and its restoration returned the spring house and marsh to open view.
Local folklore kept a "miracle spring" tradition attached to it, and the name El Polin carries the story of the Carrera family's dairy days. It is one of the few genuine spring sites inside a major American city where the strata of every era are visible in one walk.
Visiting
Presidio of San Francisco, off MacArthur Ave in Tennessee Hollow; open park. See the Presidio Trust.
Associated traditions & practices
Visitor stories