The port of Pensacola (pop. 60,000), situated on the best and largest natural harbour in Florida, is the economic center of the western edge of the Panhandle, the "Miracle Strip". Its history goes back more than 400 years, and the carefully restored Historic Village contains buildings of the Spanish, French and British colonial periods.
Features of interest in the surrounding area are the U.S. Naval Aviation Museum; Fort Pickens (1834), at the west end of Santa Rosa Island; and Pensacola Beach with its expanses of sugar-white sand.
The Civil War Soldiers Museum opened its doors to the public in 1991. The majority of the collection was donated by Dr. Norman W. Haines Jr, a local physician, who began collecting as a boy.
Life during the Civil War for soldiers is featured through photographs, artifacts, uniforms, equipment, weapons, art, realistic human figures, dioramas and life-sized camp scenes. Civil War medical paraphernalia and a recreation of a battlefield hospital make up a large number of items from the private collection.
Address: Civil War Soldiers Museum, 108 South Palafox Place, Pensacola, FL 32501-4839, United States
Phone: 1 (850) 469-1900, Fax: 1 (850) 469-9328
The National Memorial to Missing Children is located within Hawkshaw Lagoon Memorial Park in Pensacola. The observation deck is home to a bronze scuplture known as The Sanctuary. The arms and hands form a shelter and represent protection.
The pedestrian bridge in the park spans the lagoon.
Features exhibits at the Pensacola Historical Museum include local history exhibits from the time when Native Americans made their home here through to Spanish and British colonization and the Civil War to the present.
Hours:
10am-4pm; Closed: Sun, Mon
Tips: Closed major holidays.
Guides: Interpretive sessions sometimes available.
Located in the old city jail (built 1908), the Pensacola Museum of Art houses a permanent collection of decorative arts and 20th century art. Each year the museum hosts a variety of traveling exhibitions. The Pensacola Museum of Art is also home to a reference library and art classes for all ages.
Address: Pensacola Museum of Art, 407 South Jefferson Street, Pensacola, FL 32501-5901, United States
Phone: 1 (850) 432-6247, Fax: 1 (850) 469-1532
Hours:
10am-5pm; Sun:12pm-5pm; Sat:12pm-5pm; Closed: Mon
Always closed on: New Year's Day (January 1), Thanksgiving - USA (4th Thursday, November ), Christmas - Christian (December 25), Easter - Christian
Plaza Ferdinand VII, named for Spanish King Ferdinand VII, served as the center of Spanish community life and public ceremony. A statue of Andrew Jackson stands to commemorate when he received Florida from Spain in 1821.
The Saenger Theater is a Spanish Baroque performance hall with Rococo styling. It was built in 1925 as a showplace for Vaudeville-type road shows, Broadway plays, and silent movies. It has undergone a number of renovations in its history and today offers a wide array of theatrical performances and concerts. Some of the entertainers to play or perform here in the recent past are Harry Connick Jr., David Copperfield, Wynton Marsalis and Ziggy Marley. It is also the home of the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra.
Tips: Prices vary according to performance. For more information contact the box office.
Disability Access: Full facilities for persons with disabilities.
A replica memorial of the one in Washington, D.C. Veterans Memorial Park contains the names of Americans lost during the Vietnam War. There is also a UH-1M Huey helicopter and WWI veterans memorial on display.
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Fort Barrancas, Pensacola
Pensacola Lighthouse, Pensacola
Fort Barrancas, Pensacola
Pensacola Lighthouse, Pensacola
Pensacola
