Mt. Davidson Cross

You are standing at the base of a concrete structure that towers one hundred and three feet into the sky. This is the Mount Davidson Cross, which marks the highest natural point in San Francisco at nine hundred and twenty-eight feet above sea level. While it stands as a calm, permanent monument today, its history is marked by a cycle of destruction and resilience. Before this concrete version was completed in nineteen thirty-four, four different wooden crosses were erected on this very spot. Several of those predecessors were burned down by arsonists, leading the city to commission a design that could withstand both vandals and the elements.