Historic 111-year-old Pioneer Log Cabin in Golden Gate Park to be available for rent
The San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department is planning to make the 1911 Pioneer Log Cabin in Golden Gate Park available to rent, with bookings scheduled to open in April 2023. (San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department)
SAN FRANCISCO - Those who have ever wanted to host an event with an early 1900’s throw-back flare, the Pioneer Log Cabin in San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Park may be the perfect and authentic spot.
It’s a hidden treasure and piece of California history: a more than century old redwood log cabin nestled among a grove of trees near Stow Lake. And for the first time ever, the public will get a chance to rent out the historic cottage.
The cabin was once home to the now dissolved Association of Pioneer Women of California, a preservation group which worked to honor the contributions of the women who arrived in California in her early days.
The cabin was dedicated on Oct. 28, 1911 and built to replace the association’s original meeting spot in the city's Financial District, which was lost to flames in the Great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906.
SEE ALSO: The battle over pickleball courts or tennis courts at SF's Stern Grove
According to historian Christopher Pollock, the cabin was "a labor of love" for Anne McIntyre, president of the association. As part of the construction, redwood logs were brought down from Mendocino County to be used for the building.
"The rustic interior has a fireplace and the building originally housed relics connected with California history, including furnishings brought across the plains or around Cape Horn," Pollock wrote in his book "San Francisco's Golden Gate Park: A Thousand and Seventeen Acres of Stories."
An old black and white photo from The Society of California Pioneers showed the cabin's interior holding the spirit of bygone days with a chandelier hanging from the wood-beamed ceiling of a room full of artifacts.
Interior of the Pioneer Log Cabin in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. (Courtesy of The Society of California Pioneers)
Over the years, termite damage would require the cabin undergo renovation. New logs were flown in from the Sierra to replace some of the degenerating wood facings, as the work was carefully carried out to prevent damaging the exposed bark.
In 1998, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department’s permit and reservations office moved into the building.
"The cabin has remained mostly unoccupied since Permits and Reservation staff vacated the building at the start of the pandemic, in March 2020," Daniel Montes, the city's rec and park communications manager explained to KTVU.
And in the years leading up to the pandemic, plans were in the works to make the cabin available to the public to rent for private events.
Those plans were curtailed when the pandemic hit. But with the booking of private events picking up again, those efforts have been revived.
Parks officials told KTVU the department planned to open booking for the cabin starting in April 2023.
At that point, interested parties can go online or call the rec and park's permits and reservation office to rent the space.
Dedication ceremony to mark addition to the Pioneer Log Cabin in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on March 18, 1932. (Courtesy of The Society of California Pioneers)