Mission Dolores Cemetery

Mission Dolores Cemetery stands as the final resting place for roughly ten thousand people, yet only a small fraction of them have marked headstones remaining today. Established in the late eighteenth century, this ground serves as the oldest cemetery in San Francisco and contains the remains of the Ohlone, Miwok, and other Indigenous people who built the mission, alongside early Spanish and Mexican pioneers. Over time, the cemetery was significantly reduced in size to accommodate city infrastructure, resulting in the burial of thousands beneath the pavement and neighboring school buildings. Today, you are walking through a space that preserves the earliest layers of San Francisco's complex history.