Prayer Book Cross

[2] The Cross was conceived as an acknowledgment that California, not the U.S. east coast, was the founding location of New England and that several ecclesiastical "firsts" had been observed just north of San Francisco.

The Cross acknowledges that Drake's chaplain, Francis Fletcher, celebrated the first Protestant service, that of the Church of England, on or about Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, June 24, 1579 (Old Style).

The Prayer Book Cross was paid for by George William Childs, a Philadelphia publisher, advocate for the Union during the Civil War and philanthropist.

[6] The text on the stone's front is "Presented to Golden Gate Park at the opening of the Mid-Winter Fair January 1 AD 1894, as a memorial of the service held on the shore of Drakes Bay about Saint John Baptist’s Day, June 24 Anno Domini 1579 by Francis Fletcher, Priest of the Church of England, Chaplain of Sir Francis Drake, chronicler of the service."

[18] The 400th anniversary of the Book of Common Prayer led to the triennial General Convention of The Episcopal Church being held in San Francisco with the Cross as a prominent feature.