Local Community

LOCAL COMMUNITY
Pensacola justifiably calls itself "America's First Place City," because, in 1559, it was the first area settled by Europeans in the United States. A natural deep-water harbor guarded by a barrier island made it a logical location for settlement, commerce and the establishment of a military presence to protect it. Pensacola is also known as the "City of Five Flags" which is a testament to its attractiveness and importance to the region over the centuries. At various times the flags of Spain, France, England, the Confederacy and finally the United States have flown over Pensacola.

In 1743, the first commercial export cargo left the Port of Pensacola, and consisted of pine, pitch products, and the wooden masts and spars for sailing ships. In 1821, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams ordered the building of forts as well as the Navy Yard at Pensacola which signaled the beginning of the Navy's long association with the city and its people.

If you would like a quick history lesson that will take you from Pensacola's roots to its present, visit the Historic Pensacola Village right downtown in the historic district. You can tour a rare example of French Creole colonial architecture or the home of a free woman of color during the era of slavery. Seville Square offers the respite of a grassy park graced by a romantic gazebo. There are plenty of cafes and restaurants in which to refuel before tackling the many museums and historical points of interest located nearby. They include the Florida State Museum at 330 S. Jefferson, the Civil War Soldiers Museum at 108 S. Palafox and the Pensacola Historical Museum at 115 E. Zaragosa.

Located a short distance from downtown and on board NAS Pensacola you must take the time to see the National Museum of Naval Aviation which houses one of the three largest aviation museums in the world. It provides a stunning display of aircraft from the earliest days of naval flight to space travel. The museum also features two IMAX movies (one of which takes viewers on a ride with the Navy's famous Blue Angels precision flight demonstration team). For a bit more military history you might try the site of Fort George which is also part of the historic district downtown. You can tour Fort Barrancas on the mainland and Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island. During the Civil War, the former was held by the Confederacy and the latter by the Union. Both are in excellent condition. In the late 1800s Fort Pickens was also used to house the Apache chief Geronimo and some of his warriors.

For more information about Pensacola—its history as well as current attractions—contact the Pensacola Convention and Visitor's Bureau at (800) 874-1234, (850) 434-1234 or visit them at http://www.visitpensacola.com. For more help you can check out http://www.accessgulfcoast.com for additional local information. Finally, you will also find MWR a great help not only with information but for price breaks on admissions to those attractions of interest to you.

Climate
The Florida panhandle offers very mild winters and warm summers tempered by the prevailing winds off the Gulf of Mexico. Peak tourist season is from May through September so you may wish to time your visits to the most popular local attractions accordingly. Average air temperatures from November through February are usually in the low to high 50s while the water temperatures range from the mid-60s to low 70s. From March through September you can look forward to a gentle curve of warmth and sunshine that peaks in June, July and August when both the air and water stay in the 80s.

Recreation
No description of the area can begin without first mentioning Pensacola's two most obvious and notable features—its emerald green waters and its miles and miles of white sand beaches that resemble pure cane sugar. Best of all, both are free! It just doesn't get any better than this! Santa Rosa Island is one long, spectacular beach the whole family will love and want to return to again and again.

For those who prefer their sports on land, Pensacola has plenty to offer. For the hunter, there are woods galore in the immediate area alive with deer, quail, squirrel, dove and wild pigs. For runners, there is the 15k Double Bridge Run and the Blue Angel Marathon held within a week of each other in February. If you'd rather roll than run, then join 7,000 skaters at the National Roller Skating Championships held in July. For those who like to chase the little white ball, the Pensacola area offers 15 eighteen-hole and 6 nine-hole golf courses in addition to those on base.

Pensacola also has something for those who would rather watch than participate. The Civic Center hosts a professional ice hockey team, the Pensacola Ice Pilots and the Pensacola Barracudas, a professional arena football team Soccer fans will get a kick out of Ashton Brosnaham Park, Pensacola's soccer complex. The complex will soon expand to 24 fields which will make it one of the largest and best-developed facilities of its kind in the nation. Auto racing fans will thrill to the action at Five Flags Speedway and golfers who would rather watch than play can get their fill at the Emerald Coast Classic Senior PGA tour event held every March in Milton. As you can see, whatever your interest, Pensacola has something for you.

About the Area
The greater Pensacola area has a population of some 400,000 people and lies within the Central Time Zone. The City of Pensacola is organized as a Council-Manager form of government with ten council members elected to alternating two year terms. The mayor is elected by a popular vote of the residents. The city manager is appointed.

The Escambia County government is governed by a board consisting of five district commissioners elected to four-year terms. The county administrator is an appointed position.

In addition to all the museums mentioned earlier in connection with history, Pensacola is also a thriving setting for the performing arts. You'll find outstanding theater, ballet, opera, symphony or any number of cultural performances at the Saenger Theatre or the Pensacola Little Theatre downtown, at Pensacola Junior College, or the University of West Florida. If you need information on current activities, call the 24 hour Arts Information Line at (850) 438 8888.

If your interest is higher education, you will find the University of West Florida right in Pensacola as well as satellite locations at NAS Pensacola, Eglin AFB, Fort Walton and Fort Walton Beach. Troy State University-Florida is also located on board the Air Station. Further options are Pensacola Junior College, Pensacola Christian College and George Stone Area Vocational Technical Center.

For information about preparatory education, contact the School District of Escambia County. They administer grades kindergarten through high school and educate between 45,000 and 50,000 students each year. Alternatively, there are also many private schools throughout the area to choose from. All in all, Pensacola truly does have something for everyone. We hope you enjoy your tour here and take advantage of the many wonderful experiences open to you during your stay.

Gulf Island National Seashore
European colonization, American expansion, and threats of invasion led to the building of coastal forts along the northern Gulf Coast, one of these is situated on the bluffs (barrancas) overlooking Pensacola Bay and the gateway to the outside world. From here, Fort Barrancas served as the lock on the gate from potential foreign invaders.

Concerned about French and British explorations and colonization, Spain built the first colony and fort near here in 1698. The French briefly occupied the site in 1719. Later, the British acquired Pensacola in 1763 and built a naval redoubt on the barrancas.

Bernado de Galvez led Spanish troops to recapture Pensacola from the British during the American Revolution in 1781. The Spanish built new fortifications on the barrancas: San Carlos de Barrancas and Bateria de San Antonio (the water battery).

General Andrew Jackson seized the Spanish forts in 1814 and 1818. When Florida became part of the United States in 1821, the U.S. Navy selected Pensacola Bay as the site for the Warrington Navy Yard. In order to protect the navy yard, the U.S. Army, with a force of some 60 contracted slaves, made improvements to the Spanish water battery and built Fort Barrancas over the ruins of San Carlos de Barrancas from 1839 to 1844.

On Jan. 12, 1861, Alabama and Florida state militias occupied Fort Barrancas, Fort McRee, the Advanced Redoubt, and the navy yard. Federal forces had moved to Fort Pickens two days earlier. This produced a tense stalemate at Pensacola that rivaled that at Charleston and Fort Sumter in the weeks before the Civil War began.

General Braxton Bragg took command for the Confederate Army at Pensacola in March. A strict disciplinarian, Bragg banned alcohol within five miles of the camps and instituted a rigid schedule of drills and fatigue duties. Each officer was expected to be ready for an intelligent discharge of all the duties of his station, and all soldiers were to devote themselves to the "acquirements of knowledge so essential to the success of the glorious cause on which we are engaged." Drilling in the hot sun while closely laced up in heavy woolen uniforms was blamed for much sickness. Hundreds of soldiers were also stricken by consumption, malaria and diarrhea.

Action came in September with a raid on the navy yard by about 100 federal marines and sailors from Fort Pickens. Bragg responded on an October evening with about 1,000 men in a night attack on Santa Rosa Island, burning the camp of the 6th New York Infantry. Federal forces answered with a massive bombardment on Nov. 22 and 23, heavily damaging Fort McRee and the navy yard. Bragg wrote, for the number and caliber of guns and weight of metal brought into action it would rank with the heaviest bombardments in the world. Confederates abandoned Pensacola in May 1862, and Barrancas saw no further combat.

Fort Barrancas was an integral part of the coast defense system until 1947 when coastal forts were declared surplus. In 1971, Fort Barrancas became part of the newly formed Gulf Islands National Seashore. Extensive restoration of the forts was completed by the National Park Service in 1980. Today, Fort Barrancas symbolizes the lock on the gate that protected Pensacola Bay and its navy yard from potential foreign invaders.

Coastal Fortifications
Fort Barrancas
Fort Pickens
The Advanced Redoubt Batteries
Fort Massachusetts
Fort McCree
The forts of Gulf Islands National Seashore span almost 150 years, from the Spanish colonial Bateria De San Antonio (1797) to the World War Two-era Battery 234. This reflects the historic value of the anchorages at Pensacola Bay, Florida and Ship Island, Miss. Most striking among these are the American Third System forts: Fort Pickens, Fort Massachusetts, Fort Barrancas, and the Advanced Redoubt, all of which saw action during the Civil War.

Fort Barrancas
The Fort Barrancas Area is on Taylor Road approximately a half mile east from the Museum of Naval Aviation. The area includes the historic Water Battery, Fort Barrancas, trails, visitor center, picnic areas and the Advanced Redoubt.

Fort Barrancas sits on a bluff overlooking the entrance to Pensacola Bay. The natural advantages of this location have inspired engineers of three nations to build forts. The British built the Royal Navy Redoubt here in 1763 of earth and logs. The Spanish built two forts here around 1797. Bateria de San Antonio was a masonry water battery at the foot of the bluff. Above it was earth and log Fort San Carlos de Barrancas. American engineers remodeled the Water Battery in 1840 and built a masonry fort on the bluff between 1839 and 1844, connected by a tunnel to the Water Battery. This is the current Fort Barrancas. A $1.2 million, 18 month restoration project led to its reopening in 1980.

Scheduled tours of Fort Barrancas are daily at 2 p.m. and at the Advanced Redoubt every Saturday at 11 a.m.

The visitor center is open March through October, 9:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. and November through February, 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Please call (850) 455-5167 for more information

. The Advanced Redoubt
The Advanced Redoubt of Fort Barrancas was built between 1845 and 1870 as part of a defensive network for the Pensacola Navy Yard. Forts Pickens, McRee and Barrancas protected the entrance to the harbor; the Advanced Redoubt was constructed to defend the northern side of the peninsula on which the navy yard was located. The Redoubt is unique among the early American forts at Pensacola in being designed solely for resisting a land-based assault.

Fort Pickens
Fort Pickens is the largest of four forts built to defend Pensacola Bay, Fla., and its Navy yard. The fort was begun in 1829, completed in 1834, and used until the 1940s. Built in the age of wooden warships and cannons firing round balls, the fort underwent changes in response to advances in weapon technology following the Civil War.

Ten concrete gun batteries, including one in the middle of the historic fort, were built from the 1890s through the 1940s, each a response to a particular threat. Atomic bombs, guided missiles and long-range bombers made such forts obsolete by the end of World War II and the Army abandoned the forts. Following extensive repairs by the National Park Service, the fort was reopened in 1976.
The Changing Landscape at Gulf Islands

Island beaches, sparkling waters, bayous, historic forts and recreational opportunities are plentiful in Gulf Islands National Seashore, the nation's largest. Open year-round, the Seashore is in Mississippi and Florida. Gentle breezes, tides and hurricanes constantly reshape this dynamic landscape. Visit the U.S. National Park Service website for more information, http://www.nps.gov.  read more...