Presidio Pet Cemetery

It’s impossible to get to now due to ongoing overpass construction. I found out about this place via sfgate and decided since I’d be passing through the Presidio to find it. It’s nice the site is being preserved with the extensive construction. I hope to go back once all the work is done so I can look around and some of the «tombstones».

Note: The area is under construction and the cemetery is fenced off though you can clearly see it from the sidewalk on the other side of the road.
Because of the construction and my usual direction of travel turns out I’d been going by the pet cemetery regularly for the past few months and never even knew it (hard to see when biking past construction and going uphill). Today though I made an effort and there it was, hidden in plain view behind lots of temporary fencing. I’m glad they’re making an effort to preserve it through the construction. You can’t get very close though as there’s no sidewalk on the same side and there’s constantly cars going up and down the road.
It’s probably not worth stopping to see now since there isn’t much to see at the moment. More stars to come when it opens up again.

Rest in peace, sweet babies.
[The cemetary is currently taped off due to construction. They made it very clear that this cemetary was to be preserved and well cared for during the construction period. You can still peek in there to see the gravestones and memorials.]

A fascinating and slightly macabre, little roadside attraction in the Presidio currently closed to the public while the city tries to carefully build a bridge over it. The site is being preserved «as an important cultural landmark.»
Since the 1950s, army families have laid to rest their furry and feathered friends here leaving funerary markers of wood and stone in loving memory.
According to other signs posted explaining why the cemetery’s closed, it’s maintained by private funds and that there are no official records. «Numerous legends surround the cemetery, which some believe was originally a burial ground for nineteenth-​century cavalry horses and World War II guard dogs,» the signs read.
It’s easy to miss this miniature graveyard that’s presently enclosed by a chain-​link fence. In many ways it’s like visiting a wild west cemetery with most of the wooden markers worn away, rendered unreadable, with tombstones broken or knocked over.
Worth a visit just to peek through the fence at the markers — one of my favorites being a wood slab propped up by a cinder block with «Frodo was a good turtle» scrawled on it in Magic Marker.

a small pet cemetery that apparently started in the 50s by families of soldiers stationed there i think. everything from fish to horses supposedly buried there, with tombstones and everything.
a unique little attraction thats worth the stop. its a shame that its in disrepair.

DO NOT GO HERE FOR VALENTINE’S DAY. I thought it would be a great place to bring my date and maybe get rid of the ghost I picked up last weekend. WRONG!
First of all, they made the trees in this whole area very creaky and weird, and the weather was unnecessarily spooky. Plus they’re doing muddy construction all over the place and the route I had planned was impossible to find in the dark. We ended up having to hop the wall into the actual human cemetery, which just seemed to get wider and wider as we sneaked across. My feet kept sinking into the ground unexpectedly, and my date kept making fucking ghost noises.
one star– would go again, but with a different date.

The cemetery has seen better days. But, after reading about it on Unilocal and other articles around the web, I figured it would be somewhat different than what I found.
At this point, the cemetery is halfway under an exit ramp and is hard to see let alone get to. But that is really a moot point, anyway. You can’t get in to see anything. Even if you could, I would be afraid of stepping on a delicate marker. Everything is overgrown and falling in to disrepair.
The construction groups have closed off the entire cemetery with chain link fence. It is pretty much a shadow of what it once was.
I still recommend a visit. If, for nothing else, to snap some pictures and just see the thing. The more people see it, the more we all can be aware of what is there.
I wish I could have seen it before the construction. It looks like a peaceful and beautiful place. That is not what is there now and it is a shame. I feel bad for the service famillies who burried their precious pets there. I doubt they ever expected this plot to look like this.
I know the city is trying to preserve the place but would it really have been all that difficult to get that exit ramp about 45 yards above the cemetery or so? There really isn’t much there, now, anyway. I give it 3 stars because the concept and what it should be is great. The state it is in is a shame at this point.

Not so peaceful anymore — now that they are building the new Doyle Drive roadway right above it. But still touching. clearly these pets were loved by there owners. I have considered placing my gone friends here, but alas they are no longer accepting tenants. At least not legal residents, so if you see me one night walking in the area carrying a shovel and a small box, don’t mind me. I’m just out for a moonlit walk.

what an adorable yet sad place! odd that someone left a bottle of rum for some little cat or bunny here, but hey i’m not judgmental. it’s a peaceful place i’d like to revisit again on a sunny day.

1 star. Don’t use, they come back wrong

Heard about a pet cemetery in the presidio and had to see it for myself. There was construction going on literally all around the cemetery so it was loud and and any pictures i took had huge ugly cranes and other constuction machinary in the background. It was also very dry and all the plants had died. damn this heat wave.
such cute little headstones. looks almost fake, everything looks handmade. i cant wait to come back when its a little greener and construction is done. definately worth a visit!!!

I was walking around in the Presidio and we found the Presidio Pet Cemetery.
Military personnel that were once stationed in the Presidio buried their pets at the cemetery. They provided their own grave makers. Now it’s operated by post veterinarian & maintained by private funds & local scouts.
I saw the grave sites for:
Inky the cat
Charlie the bird
Cruiser
Polka
Mr Twister & Raspberry — basset
Kuma
Stinky
Silver the fish
Woody — Wiener dog
Many others I’m not listing. Not a big cemetary & it’s under Hwy 101.

In response to the last review… the Presidio has said they will keep the pet cemetery and it has not/​will not be destroyed by the Doyle Drive construction project. And, I’m relieved and gladdened by this news.
You can read about it here:
You can also read a little more about the cemetery here:

If you Google Presidio Pet Cemetary, you’ll come up with some really sweet and interesting references. This is a peaceful place and although I don’t have pets resting there, I understand how much it means to those who have passed through, and buried pets there. How much must you love your pet to bury them properly, headstone and all, in a real cemetery?
Right now, there is a HUGE construction project happening in this basin. From a drive by, everything but the stables looks to have been leveled. I could see a fence around the actual cemetery, but the old trees in the middle have been pulled up. There were graves butted up against these trees. And, it looked totally disrupted. Has anyone else seen this? Heartbreaking!

Curious about the Pet Cemetery, BA and I stopped by on a recent day out at Crissy Field… I love cemeteries… and this one is really darned cute. One thing sort of seemed weird though… the whole time we were there, I kept noticing that some of the wood «headstones» were just propped up with sticks and didn’t really correlate to where a grave would be, but looked good from far away, sort of like the graveyard at the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland…
As we were leaving, BA walked across the street as I stopped to take a picture… just then, an old firetruck that had been converted into a tourbus drove by and stopped for a photo op for the riders. The bus separated BA and I, and I just stood there, like a deer in headlights, and then waved meekly to the photo snapping tourists.
That’s when I got the sinking feeling that the place had been styled or staged…{sad trombone sound}

«But he’s not God’s cat, he’s my cat… let God get his own if he wants one… not mine… not mine.» –Pet Semetary (circa 1989)
You really can’t help but think of the cinematic masterpiece that is Pet Semetary when walking through this nostalgic slice of yesteryear. The idea of a pet cemetery is pretty intriguing, especially since the old Presidio officers allowed their children to keep pigeons and ferrets as pets. Brilliant!
«Here lies Pudgy. The best pigeon ever.»

It’s kinda creepy reviewing a cemetery, but a friend of mine is a photographer and she asked me to come here for a photo shoot. The theme was gothica so we were dressed in all black with dark lipstick and eyeliner. It was hard to find-​hidden under the golden gate bridge. When I finally found the spot, it was smaller than I pictured. There was a girlscout hike going by and they stopped to stare. Needless to say, I’m sure they had a story to tell their parents when they got home! I give this place 3 stars because I think it’s a cool hidden place to remember your beloved pet.
p. s. the pics turned out kinda cool.(see «my photos»)

My favorite headstone:
HERE LIES «TROUBLE»
HE WAS NO TROUBLE.
Cool place to stop for a breather when jogging through the Presidio or after a visit to Sports Basement.

So worth a visit! And it’ll impress all your visitor friends! Um, maybe (refer to story below). It’s a little hard to find, so here’s a map:

It’s on the corner of McDowell Ave. and Cowles St. If you take Mason St. past Crissy Field on the right and past the Sports Basement on the left, (but before you get to the parking lot for the Warming Hut) take a left onto McDowell, it’s right there under the 101.
Now, I suppose I should warn you – when I took my parents there my mom, being the softie that she is, started crying! I felt so bad. If it’s anywhere even remotely close to a recent passing of a pet (my bad), then don’t take your guests here. Otherwise, it’s fun. No, really.

Sooooo cute! (You wouldn’t believe what some people name their pets. My favorites: Poochie, Trouble, and Codine.)
This quirky little cemetery is packed with little handmade headstones and adorable little shrines. Wish I’d brought a bag of milkbones to pay my respects…