Pensacola welcomed its first visitor over 400 years ago, when a man named Don Tristan De Luna landed on the shores of Pensacola Bay with 1,400 of his troops. Like most Pensacola visitors, the famed Spanish conquistador liked what he saw and he quickly set up a colony with more than 1,000 residents, Two years later--in 1561--De Luna abandoned the colony. Ironically, the city of St. Augustine, known as our nation's oldest city, was founded four years later. And it would be another 139 years later before Pensacola would become a settlement for the second time.
In 1698, Don Andres de Ariola and 350 Spanish soldiers became the second generation of visitors to colonize Pensacola. During their stay, they succeeded in constructing the first permanent post and fort at the present day Naval Air Station on Pensacola Bay. The Spaniards built a second fort in 1719 near present Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island. The French took control of it soon after and then lost Pensacola to the Spanish in 1722.
After the Spaniards regained control of the area, they decided to move their settlement to nearby Santa Rosa Island where it could be better defended. Unfortunately, a hurricane wiped out the colony and Spain abandoned further attempts to settle it. A small stockade, erected in 1752 near Historic Pensacola Village, is one of the few remaining souvenirs of that turbulent time.
In 1763, Spain ceded the area to the British as part of Treaty of Paris. The British stayed 18 years (1763-1781), and added what could be described as the area's first amenities---mapped streets of today's Pensacola Historic District, gardens and a public water well---before Spain recaptured Florida in 1781.
In 1821, Pensacola became part of the United States and Andrew Jackson became the first territorial governor of the new territory.
Then came the Civil War, 40 years later, when the city was involved in a standoff between Union and Confederate soldiers. Like much of the South, Pensacola ended up being divided ----with the Yankees holding Fort Pickens and the Rebels controlling Fort McRee. But Confederate forces evacuated the city in 1862 and many residents fled. An industrial boom of lumber, shipping, and fishing in the 1870's, brought these residents, Northerners and freed slaves, back and provided much needed fuel for the city's growth.
In 1886, Fort Pickens became the unlikely site for the area's first tourist attraction when it held Geronimo and other Apache warriors prisoner there. Countless sightseers cruised the waters around the fort in hopes of glimpsing the aging warriors.
Today you can see evidence of this heritage in Pensacola's architecture. Spanish, French, English, Confederate, and United States archeological, cultural and historical sights abound. Pensacola's history is alive in the Historic Pensacola Village, the Pensacola Historical Museum, the Pensacola Historic District, and the Civil War Soldiers Museum all located downtown. Celebrate with us each June during the Fiesta of Five Flags, a 10-day historical reenactment of Pensacola's discovery and settlement. And more history abounds in the scenic areas of Fort Pickens and Fort Barrancas.
Pensacola Realty