Monday, January 13, 2014

Pensacola Beach Day Two/Part One: Fort Pickens

Hello!  I'm back with pictures and stories of our second day of vacation in Pensacola Beach, Florida.  Our second day in Pensacola was New Years Eve Day, and it was bitter cold; only reaching about 45 degrees.  Since everything would be closing early for the holiday, we decided to check out Fort Pickens.  It is located in a National Park on the Gulf Islands National Seashore, and are ruins of a fort built in 1829.

 The fort was located at the very end of the island that our hotel was on.  This is a stretch of road you have to take to get to the fort.  Doesn't it look just like snow?
 Fort Pickens is the largest of four forts built to defend Pensacola Bay and the Navy yard.  Now it is in ruins and is on the National Register of Historic Place.  There is a museum located near the ruins where we watched a video of the history of the fort which really helped explain what we were looking at when we took the self guided walking tour.
 There are several canons located throughout the fort.  That is my son standing inside the fort next to one of the canons.
 There were also several tunnels that were fun to explore.  It's hard to see in the picture, but my boys are at the end of each tunnel poking their heads out for the camera.
 I absolutely loved exploring this old fort.  The brick and stone work were amazing!   Much of it was covered with moss, mold, mildew and dripping water:  just beautiful to me!  I felt like I was in Europe again!
 This is a portion of part of the fort wall.
 A gorgeous iron gate and doorway.
 More tunnels and arches:

 The outside wall of the fort,  the canon is pointing out towards the gulf.  When you climb on top of the wall, you get a great view of the gulf.
 The interior courtyard of the fort.
Fort Pickens was one of the highlights of our trip to Pensacola because our family loves history and old buildings/structures.  It was so fun to explore all the tunnels and areas of this old fort.  It has something of interest for all ages in any family.

My next post will give you highlights of how we spent New Years Eve in Pensacola Beach!

Have a great day!  Amy

1 comment:

  1. You have enriched my existence with your fabulous photo's of places and things I never knew existed, love your blog!
    hugs
    Glenda

    ReplyDelete

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