Sutro Heights Park

Sutro Heights Park sits on a high, wind-swept bluff that once served as the private playground of a mining tycoon. Adolph Sutro, a wealthy engineer who made his fortune in Nevada silver mines, purchased this land in eighteen eighty-one and transformed the rugged coastline into a meticulously manicured estate. He filled the gardens with hundreds of plaster statues imported from Belgium, designed to bring a touch of European culture to the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Visitors in the late nineteenth century could pay a dime to wander through his hedge mazes and conservatories, gazing out at the same crashing surf you see today.