he nearly magical confluence of land and sea where the San Francisco Peninsula reaching up from the south, and Marin County stretching down from the north, almost touch, was named "Chrysopylea," meaning "golden gate," by Captain John C. Fremont in 1846. The Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world from 1937 to 1964, when New York City's Verrazano Narrows surpassed it by a mere 18 meters (60 ft). The main span is 1,280 meters (4,200 ft) long and 27 meters (90 ft) wide, the towers rise to 227 meters (746 ft) above the water.
