Fort Barrancas

Fort Barrancas is one of a trio of forts guarding the northern Gulf Coast at Pensacola.  Now under the direction of the National Park Service, it is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore which stretches from Florida to Mississippi.

Series of archways in the Scrap Gallery

The Spanish built the first fort in 1698 to defend against the French and British.  That fort, called Bateria de San Antonio, still stands on the site and is open for touring.  Today it is connected to Fort Barrancas by an underground tunnel and we walked through the tunnel to access the Spanish fort.

The only big gun left

As time passed, the French took over the fort briefly before it landed in the hands of the British.  In 1763 the British built another fort behind Bateria de San Antonio.  The Spanish recaptured Pensacola some 20 years later and added to and reenforced both forts.

General Andrew Jackson won the forts for the US in 1814.  After Florida became a state, the Navy saw Pensacola as a great place for a naval yard.  For protection of the naval yard, improvements were again made to the original Spanish fort, now called the water battery and built Fort Barrancas over the ruins of the British fort.

The Spanish Fort

Fort Barrancas and the water battery site on Pensacola Bay and are the top of the triangle of forts which defend against attack from the Gulf.  Fort McRee and Fort Pickens form the points at the bottom of the triangle and sat opposite each other at the narrow passage between the bay and the gulf.

In the late 1940s, coastal forts were deemed unnecessary.  Fort Barrancas along with Water Battery  became part of Gulf Islands National Seashore in the early 1970s.

Pensacola Lighthouse

This afternoon we toured Fort Barrancas and Water Battery.  Not far away is the Pensacola Lighthouse.  We stopped by there for a photo, but didn’t go inside.  These two stops were a bonus for our day trip.  Our primary purpose for coming to Pensacola today was to visit the highly recommended National Naval Aviation Museum.  The brochure claims this museum is “world class” and we have not talked to anyone who didn’t recommend it.  Truly, it is world class and we will recommend it to anyone visiting Pensacola.  More about that and photos tomorrow.

Pensacola is about 40 miles from Summerdale making this a good day trip.  We plan to go back again before we leave here.