Father wanted it to be a place of refreshment for body and spirit and to be cherished as a memorial of truly great historical significance. - Mary Marston

"Excepting my mercantile business, this Presidio Hill undertaking is the largest work of my life…beginning in 1907, I spent a good part of thirty years attending to it. For 12 years I was on the ground almost every day.

"Parks are one of the blessings of a peaceful community life and I hope that Presidio will always be a refuge from the "maddening crowd" of the city.

"My wife, who was born in the pine clad mountains of California, was a lover of the woods and she encouraged me in the planting of trees. Mrs. Marston joined me in transferring our Presidio real estate to the city; she was a joint giver of the park lands."

Courtesy Coons Collection