Angel Island State Park - San Francisco Bay, CA - State/Provincial Parks on Waymarking.com

All of Angel Island State Park is administered by California State Parks. The highest point on the island, almost exactly at its center, is Mount Caroline Livermore at 788 feet. It has been used for a variety of purposes, including military forts and immigration centers. The Immigration Station on the northeast corner of the island processed approximately one million Asian immigrants and has been designated a National Historic Landmark. In 1954, the State Park Commission authorized California State Parks to purchase 37 acres around Ayala Cove, marking the birth of Angel Island State Park. Additional acreage was purchased four years later, in 1958. The last federal Department of Defense personnel withdrew in 1962, turning over the entire island as a state park in December of the same year. Access to the island is by private boat or public ferry from San Francisco, Tiburon or Vallejo. Ferry service is reduced during the winter. Bicycles can be brought to the island on the ferry and used on the island's main roads. Bikes and Segways can also be rented. Dogs are not allowed. Roller skates and skateboards are prohibited. No wood fires are allowed but there are designated barbecue and picnic areas available to use. A few campsites are also available for reservation. Night travel on the island is prohibited in some areas for reasons of park security and public safety.

Park Type: Day Use and Overnight Activities: Picnicking, hiking, biking, geocaching, history study Park Fees: Not listed Background: Until about ten thousand years ago, Angel Island was connected to the mainland; it was cut off by the rise in sea levels due to the end of the last ice age. From about two thousand years ago the island was a fishing and hunting site for Coast Miwok Native Americans. Similar evidence of Native American settlement is found on the nearby mainland of the Tiburon Peninsula upon Ring Mountain. In 1775, the Spanish naval vessel San Carlos made the first European entry to the San Francisco Bay under the command of Juan de Ayala. Ayala anchored off Angel Island, and gave it its modern name (Isla de los Angeles); the bay where he anchored is now known as Ayala Cove. From 1910 to 1940, the Angel Island Immigration Station processed approximately 1 million Asian immigrants entering into the US, leading to it sometimes being referred to as "The Ellis Island of the West". Due to the restrictions of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, many immigrants spent years on the island, waiting for entry. A fire destroyed the administration building in 1940, and subsequent immigration processing took place in San Francisco. In 1962, the Chinese American community successfully lobbied the State of California to designate the immigration station as a State Landmark. In 1971 the immigration stations was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Date Established?: 1954 Link to Park: [Web Link] Additional Entrance Points: Not Listed

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