Fort Mason

The bluff was renamed Black Point after 1849, for the abundance of dark-colored California bay laurel trees that grew on it, and in the 1850s it carried a civilian community whose residents included John Fremont, Jessie Benton Fremont and Leonides Haskell. The National Park Service records that the outbreak of the Civil War forced the army to take back possession of Black Point, evict the civilian residents, and re-establish the original name, Point San Jose; that in 1864 the army fortified Point San Jose with more guns; and that in 1882 the post was renamed Fort Mason to honor Colonel Richard Barnes Mason, the second military governor and commander of California. Two of the private houses built on the north end of Black Point still stand, and are now called Quarters 3 and Quarters 4.