Mary Ellen Pleasant (August 19, 1815 – January 11, 1904) was a 19th-century

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

, financier, real estate magnate and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

. She was arguably the first self-made millionaire of

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensla ...

heritage, preceding

Madam C. J. Walker Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the ''Gu ...

by decades. She identified herself as "a capitalist by profession" in the

1890 United States census The United States census of 1890 was taken beginning June 2, 1890, but most of the 1890 census materials were destroyed in 1921 when a building caught fire and in the subsequent disposal of the remaining damaged records. It determined the reside ...

. Her aim was to earn as much money as she was able to help as many people as she could. With her riches she was able to provide transportation, housing, and food for survival. She trained people how to stay safe, succeed, carry themselves, and more. The "one woman social agency" served African Americans before and during the Civil War, as well as meeting a different set of needs after

Emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchis ...

. She worked on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

and expanded it westward during the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

era. She was a friend and financial supporter of John Brown and was well known among abolitionists. She helped women who lived in California during the

to stay safe and become self-sufficient. After the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...

, she won several civil rights victories that resulted in her being called "The Mother of Human Rights in California". Legal battles, though, had mixed results. Realizing that she was in a tenuous position as a black woman who had gained political and financial power, she sought ways to blend in to the culture of the times. She portrayed herself as a housekeeper and a cook, long after she was wealthy, but she used these roles to get to know wealthy citizens and gain information for her investments. In the 1870s, she made the acquaintance of Thomas Bell, a wealthy banker and capitalist, which helped her make money and keep her riches and true financial status a secret. She spent her money, and developed the plans, to build a large mansion that outwardly was to seem as if it was the Bell's residence. She assumed the role of housekeeper for the Bells, but it was not a secret in the city that she actually ran the household, managed the servants, and also managed the relationships among the Bells. Author Edward White said of her: "As an entrepreneur, civil-rights activist, and benefactor, Mary Ellen Pleasant made a name and a fortune for herself in Gold Rush–era San Francisco, shattering racial taboos."

Biography

Early years

Pleasant was likely born on August 19, 1814. There are various accounts about where she was born, who her parents were, and if she was born free or not. She claimed that she was born free in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

on Barley Street. Others state that she was born into slavery in Georgia or Virginia. She may have been the daughter of a voodoo priestess from the Caribbean, a Hawaiian merchant, or a wealthy Virginian. It was said that she had so many stories about her origins to "please her audience or justify her behavior." Her mother disappeared when she was a child, after which she lived with Mr. and Mrs. Williams, and was known as Mary Ellen Williams. When she was six or eleven years of age, but was taken from a household in Philadelphia or Cincinnati. Mr. Williams brought her to

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachus ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

to be a domestic or indentured servant to the Hussey-Gardner family, who were

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

and

abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

. He left some money for her education with the Husseys, yet Pleasant did not get a formal education. She later said "I often wonder what I would have been with an education." Pleasant stated in her memoir that she was brought to Nantucket by her father, but she had no memories of life before Nantucket or why she went there. When she arrived, around 1820, Nantucket was in the "golden era of Nantucket whaling." As she grew up, she worked in the Hussey's store. Located on Union Street, it was run by Mary Hussey, who she called "Grandma Hussey". Hussey was the grandmother of Phebe Hussey Gardner, who was married to Captain Edward W. Gardner, a whaler. Pleasant sought to create a better life for herself by focusing on learning what she could from her surroundings. Working at the store helped her develop a friendly manner and business acumen. She said of that time: "I was a girl full of smartness holet books alone and studied men and women a good deal … I have always noticed that when I have something to say, people listen. They never go to sleep on me." She was considered a member of the family by 1839 when she was taken into the home of abolitionists Phebe Hussey Gardner and Edward Gardner. Their son Thomas Gardner taught her how to read and write. She left Nantucket around 1840. Thenceforth she exchanged letters with Phebe Gardner and Ariel Hussey until they died. Phebe and her husband Edward were lost at sea in 1863 and Ariel was deceased by that time.

The Underground Railroad

Pleasant was an apprentice for a tailor in Boston on Merrimac Street, and she may have met her first husband in the shop. She married James Smith in Boston in the 1840s. Her husband was an abolitionist and together they helped people who had been enslaved make it north to freedom in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Engl ...

via the

. They coordinated transportation through contacts in Nantucket and

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford ( Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American ...

, Ohio, and perhaps

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Smith was an agent for '' The Liberator'', an anti-slavery newspaper published by

William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he found ...

. She was likely to have attended Anti-Slavery Society meetings in Nantucket, led by Anna Gardner, during and after her marriage. Smith, who had been abusive to Pleasant, died after around four years of marriage. Pleasant was left an estate worth tens of thousands of dollars. She continued their work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, for three or four years. It was dangerous work and she was harassed for helping runaways and ultimately had to leave the east coast. They were in danger from slavers, as well as subject to prosecution and imprisonment under the

Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was an Act of the United States Congress to give effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the US Constitution ( Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3), which was later superseded by the Thirteenth Amendment, and to also gi ...

and the later act of 1850 that imposed new penalties on those in the Underground Railroad. MarieLaveau (Frank Schneider)

During that time, she returned to Nantucket for a short period after her husband's death. Edward Gardner had helped transport fugitives to their freedom, and he helped Pleasant manage her husband's estate after his death. At some point, Pleasant developed a relationship with John James Pleasants, who was a former slave. He had been the Creole foreman of her husband's plantation or a waiter in New Bedford, Massachusetts. During their marriage, he worked a cook-seaman. They were married around 1848. She had a baby daughter from one of her husbands named Elizabeth "Lizzie" J. Smith in the late 1840s. Lizzie was likely left behind on the east coast as Pleasant established herself in San Francisco. Lizzie later made the journey west with Mrs. Martha Steele of Boston. A number of fellow abolitionists from Boston, Philadelphia, and New Bedford migrated west to California around 1850; There were more than 700 people, at least 25 of whom were Hussey and Gardner family members, who left Nantucket for the gold coast in 1849. She sailed on a ship to New Orleans, where she arranged for the flight of enslaved people, took cooking lessons, and was said to have taken lessons from Voodoo Queen

Marie Laveau Marie Catherine Laveau (September 10, 1801 – June 15, 1881)''Marie Laveau The Mysterious Voodoo Queen: A Study of Powerful Female Leadership in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans'' by Ina Johanna Fandrich was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of ...

. She arrived in San Francisco in 1849, or in April 1852 on the steamer ''Oregon'', after traveling through Panama. She left New Orleans just as she was about to be captured for her Underground Railroad feats. The voyage to California took about four months.

California Gold Rush and civil rights

The

(1848–1855) provided a unique opportunity for blacks. As one African American miner wrote to his wife, "This is the best place for black folks on the globe. All a man has to do is to work, and he will make money." Many blacks were made rich through prospecting. Since only one out of ten pioneers coming to the state were women, Pleasant realized that she could seize a very lucrative opportunity to cook and provide lodging for the miners. There was a wrinkle. Americans southerners also made a run for the Gold Coast, taking their enslaved people with them. There were

slave catcher In the United States a slave catcher was a person employed to track down and return escaped slaves to their enslavers. The first slave catchers in the Americas were active in European colonies in the West Indies during the sixteenth century. I ...

s and

slaveholder The following is a list of slave owners, for which there is a consensus of historical evidence of slave ownership, in alphabetical order by last name. A * Adelicia Acklen (1817–1887), at one time the wealthiest woman in Tennessee, she inh ...

s who came looking for runaways. Governor

Peter Hardeman Burnett Peter Hardeman Burnett (November 15, 1807May 17, 1895) was an American politician who served as the first elected Governor of California from December 20, 1849, to January 9, 1851. Burnett was elected Governor almost one year before California's ...

was such a southerner who wanted to eliminate all blacks from the state. In addition, there was a California law that allowed any black person to be sold into slavery if they did not have appropriate papers.

Money-making

When she arrived in San Francisco, word had spread that she would be arriving in San Francisco and she was met by a group of men who got into a bidding war to engage her as a cook. She is said to have had $15,000 () in gold coins when she arrived in San Francisco. She managed her money cleverly. She exchanged gold into silver through Panama $1,000 at a time when the value of gold was high. She deposited silver into a bank, and took it out in gold, she said that she "was able to turn my money over rapidly". She put some of her money into a number of banks. She also divided money between a black Baptist minister, Thomas Randolph; William West of West & Harper, and Frank Langford with a 10% interest rate. She worked as a live-in domestic and made investments based upon conversations that she overheard from wealthy men as she attended to them during meals and conferences. She established boarding houses, a string of laundries, and brothels. She was a co-founder of the

Bank of California The Bank of California was opened in San Francisco, California, on July 4, 1864, by William Chapman Ralston and Darius Ogden Mills. It was the first commercial bank in the Western United States, the second-richest bank in the nation, and considered ...

and she established several restaurants, including the Case and Heiser. John James Pleasant was a sea-cook, who was often at sea during their 30-year marriage. He worked with her for more than two decades as an abolitionist. He also worked in the fight against discrimination in the 1860s. He died in 1877.

Philanthropy, civil rights, and schemes

The more that she made, the more that she had to share to help people in need. For her own safety, she initially went by the name Mrs. Ellen Smith, rather than Pleasant, and was considered by her neighbors to be a white landlady and cook. She was Mrs. Pleasant to former slaves who worked at any of her businesses, which included livery stables, a dairy farm, a tenant farm, and a money-lending business. She was careful to keep her name out of Underground Railroad–related transactions; however, among other abolitionists, she was known as Mrs. Pleasant(s). Among the transactions that she made during Underground Railroad activities, she assisted fugitive slaves obtain safe transportation, housing, and jobs. She funded her efforts through the monies that she had left from her first husband's estate. When she came to California, it was possible for fugitive slaves to be apprehended from other states and blacks who were unable to give testimony in courts. She became a "one woman social agency" that provided for the transportation of black men and women to California. Once there, she ensured their daily needs were met until they were employed or had established businesses, both of which she helped them accomplish. She helped William Marcus West establish a boarding house that doubled as a safe house for runaways as was her house, and that of wealthy white home owners. She helped enslaved people, who traveled with their owners, to escape while in California. She attained legal resources for black people when attempts were made to extradite them out of California and return them to slavery. For instance, she paid for legal fees and housing for

Archy Lee Archy Lee was an African-American born into slavery in Mississippi in 1840. Lee's slave-owner, Charles Stovall, brought Lee with him to Sacramento, California on October 2, 1857. While in California, Stovall rented out Lee for his wages. In Januar ...

during his case of 1857, in which a judge from Texas ultimately ruled against California's state constitution and for the slaveholder. Since testimony of African Americans was not allowed in court, she worked and funded the repeal of the banned-testimony law. She campaigned for the end of slavery in the state. She became known as the "Mother of civil rights in California" for her efforts. She helped women of any ethnicity, who were at significant risk on their own in the early San Franciscan days, by helping them with housing and clothing, as well as advising them about how to carry themselves and dress. She also helped women find homes for their children, if they could not support them. She arranged marriages between wealthy men and her " protégés", who kept detailed records about the men's activities—illegitimate children, infidelities, and political and financial shenanigans—which may have been used for blackmail.

Harpers Ferry

She left San Francisco from 1857 to 1859 to help John Brown. She was said to have actively supported his cause with money and work. There was a note from her in his pocket when he was arrested after the

Harpers Ferry Armory The Harpers Ferry Armory, more formally known as the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, was the second federal armory created by the United States government. (The first was the Springfield Armory.) It was located in Harpers Ferry ...

incident, but as it was only signed with the initials "MEP" (which were misread as "WEP") she was not caught. She returned to San Francisco to continue her work there, where she was known as the "Black City Hall." When the abolitionist John Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859, for murder and treason, a note found in his pocket read, "The ax is laid at the foot of the tree. When the first blow is struck, there will be more money to help." Officials most likely believed it was written by a wealthy Northerner who had helped fund Brown's attempt to incite, and arm, an enormous slave uprising by taking over an arsenal at

Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. It is located in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The population was 285 at the 2020 census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. stat ...

in Virginia. No one suspected that the note was written by Pleasant. Pleasant told Davis, "Before I pass away, I wish to clear the identity of the party who furnished John Brown with most of his money to start the fight at Harpers Ferry and who signed the letter found on him when he was arrested." The sum she donated was $30,000 (). She has said that it was the "most important and significant act of her life".

Post-war life

With her fortune and the exorbitant money she made as a cook, ten times what she could have made in the east, she invested in a number of businesses in California that served the miners, like laundries, lodging, and

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and inter ...

. She developed a long-lasting partnership with Thomas Bell, a white banker and investor in the east. Her investments and businesses, made her and Thomas Bell $30 million () by 1875. After the end of the war, she invested in the same types of businesses, but more luxurious accommodations, which drew the elite. After the end of the war, she began to identify herself as a woman of color, such as in the city directory. She stopped working as a housekeeper to have more time to spend on civil rights activities, including housing for blacks, establishing black schools, and repealing or fighting against

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

. She established a 1,000-acre ranch in Sonoma County called Beltane Ranch (now Calabazas Creek Open Space Preserve) in 1890 and 1891. In the spring of 1865, her daughter Lizzie married R. Berry Phillips at the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church in San Francisco followed by a reception. (Pleasant herself was

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Legal cases

Streetcar lawsuits

Pleasant successfully attacked racial discrimination in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

public conveyances after she and two other black women were ejected from a city streetcar in 1866. She filed two lawsuits. The first, against the Omnibus Railroad Company, was withdrawn after the company promised to allow African-Americans to board their streetcars. The second case, ''Pleasant v. North Beach & Mission Railroad Company'', went to the California Supreme Court and took two years to complete. In the city, the case outlawed segregation in the city's public conveyances. She won in part due to the testimony of a white woman who had hired Pleasant, who the woman called "Mamma", for domestic work years ago. Although the woman saw Pleasant as a friend, their relationship and the use of the endearment, "Mamma" was twisted in the newspapers. At the State Supreme Court, the damages awarded against her at the trial court were reversed, having been found excessive. The publicity of this case highlighted her differences from others: a woman of mixed ancestry, who lived her life boldly before her time, and who had a significant change in class from the time of her birth. Pleasant was regularly called the derogatory slur "Mammy Pleasant" by local whites. The press also called her "Mammy" Pleasant but she did not approve: "I don't like to be called mammy by everybody. Put. that. down. I am not mammy to everybody in California. I received a letter from a pastor in Sacramento. It was addressed to Mammy Pleasant. I wrote back to him on his own paper that my name was Mrs. Mary E. Pleasant. I wouldn't waste any of my paper on him."

Sharon v. Sharon

A court battle with

Sarah Althea Hill Sarah Althea Hill (March 26, 1850 – February 14, 1937) was a socialite, mistress, and mentally unstable woman with a history of violent behavior who became a national celebrity when she sued millionaire Senator William Sharon for divorce, citing ...

and Senator

William Sharon William Tang Sharon (January 9, 1821November 13, 1885) was a United States senator, banker, and business owner from Nevada who profited from the Comstock Lode. Early life Sharon was born in Smithfield, Ohio, January 9, 1821, the son of Will ...

, involved the breakup of their arrangement and whether there were damages. They had a contractual relationship in which Sharon agreed to pay $500 each month to her so that they could sleep together from time-to-time. Hill and Pleasant understood it as marriage contract (kept secret for political and other reasons) and that now Sharon wanted to be rid of her. Pleasant paid Hill's legal fees. David Terry was one of her lawyers who became emotionally involved in the case. Pleasant was accused by Sharon's lawyer and the press of having sinister intentions and manipulating Hill to drum up the case. The trial received national attention in the press, much of which was unpleasant. There were unsubstantiated claims that Pleasant tried to poison Sharon's food and cast spells over him. She was presumed to have an evil intention for listening to Hill's concerns, as if "confiding one's secrets in a mammy was simply what well-brought-up white ladies do." When she was called to the stand Pleasant was "articulate, measured, and consistent", not overly kindly nor evil as she had been portrayed. Ultimately Justice Stephen J. Field ruled for Sharon. By this time Hill had married David Terry, who went into a rage at the verdict and was sentenced to six months in jail. In August 1889, Terry was killed by a bodyguard that Justice Field had hired for protection. Although there are some reports that this destroyed Pleasant's reputation, within San Francisco she was still respected and remembered fondly for her efforts. The number of friends dwindled over the years as some moved out of town and others were dead. The culture of the city had changed quite a bit from the pioneering days when Pleasant was a force to be reckoned with.

The Bell family

She lived the last 20 years of her life in a 30-room mansion that spanned two San Francisco city blocks. In 1880, she had fifteen people living in her house. There were five members of Thomas Bell's family, including his wife Terressa (or Teresa) Bell, and their children Frederick, Mary Terressa and Viola S. Bell. Aside from herself, the rest were servants and a five-year-old boy. While the Bells and Pleasant lived together, Pleasant controlled the combined Bell and Pleasant money. If Teresa wanted money, she asked Pleasant for the money, who thought about it and, if the request seemed reasonable, she checked in with Thomas Bell for his reaction. After Thomas Bell died in 1892, the cumulation of events meant that she had lost most of her estate. She still had her investments, but she was cash-poor, and the courts declared that Pleasant was insolvent. That same year, she had donated today's equivalent of about $10,000 to help found Saint Mary's College. Teresa, who had emotional and mental instability, claimed that tens of thousands of dollars had been stolen by Pleasant and that her husband had been manipulated. When the case went to trial it was difficult to discern what were Bell's and what were Pleasant's assets, because the transactions were so entwined. Pleasant could show that she paid for construction of her mansion, but she left it either because it was ruled that ownership should be transferred to Teresa or Pleasant complied with Teresa's to leave the house in 1899. As soon as she made arrangements, she moved into a six-room apartment on Webster Street and began a legal crusade of her own to recover her property, including a diamond collection. The case was not settled by the time of Pleasant's death.

Final days

She lived on Webster Street in San Francisco with a maid. She was visited by the Bell children there. They called her "Auntie" and she called them "Dear". She turned down an offer by a reporter to pay generously for her stories of people from the past, because she said she would never betray her friends. She became quite weakened and near death and a friend, Olive Sherwood, took her to her house, the Lyman Sherwood residence on Filbert Street. She died there on January 11, 1904, and was interred at Tulocay Cemetery in

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California. Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area, the city had a population of 77,480 as of the end of 2021. Napa is a major ...

. Her gravesite is marked with a metal sculpture and the site was dedicated on June 11, 2011, and her gravestone contains the words "She was a friend of John Brown", as she had requested before her death. Her former mansion was demolished and has been replaced by the Mary Ellen Pleasant Memorial Park.

Posthumous recognition

Pleasant has been featured or mentioned in several works of fiction. Michelle Cliff's 1993 book ''Free Enterprise'' is subtitled "A Novel of Mary Ellen Pleasant" and features her abolitionist activities. The ghost of Mary Ellen Pleasant is a character in the 1997 novel ''Earthquake Weather,'' by Tim Powers. Karen Joy Fowler's historical novel ''Sister Noon'', published in 2001, features Pleasant as a central character, and Thomas Bell and Teresa Bell as secondary characters. She was an important character in Andre Norton's ''Velvet Shadows,'' a romantic suspense novel set in San Francisco. Pleasant's life has also been discussed in film and television, including in the 2008 documentary ''Meet Mary Pleasant'', and a segment of a 2013 episode of the

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...

series ''

Drunk History ''Drunk History'' is an American educational comedy television series produced by Comedy Central, based on the Funny or Die web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner in 2007. They and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the show's exe ...

'' in which Pleasant was portrayed by

Lisa Bonet Lilakoi Moon (born Lisa Michelle Bonet; November 16, 1967), known professionally as Lisa Bonet (), is an American actress. She is known for playing Denise Huxtable on the sitcom ''The Cosby Show'' (1984–1992), for which she earned widespread a ...

. In 1974, the city of San Francisco designated

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including ''Corymbia'', they are commonly known as eucal ...

trees that Pleasant had planted outside her mansion at the southwest corner of Octavia and Bush streets in San Francisco as a Structure of Merit. The trees and associated plaque are now known as Mary Ellen Pleasant Memorial Park, which is the smallest park in San Francisco. Her burial site has been designated a "Network to Freedom" site by the National Park Service. Pleasant Street on

Nob Hill Nob Hill is a neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States that is known for its numerous luxury hotels and historic mansions. Nob Hill has historically served as a center of San Francisco's upper class. Nob Hill is among the highe ...

is named for her.