Pensacola was first settled by the Spanish in 1559. The location of Pensacola south of the original British colonies and near French Louisiana and other Spanish settlements in Florida caused Pensacola to change ownership several times. Pensacola was Spanish, then French, then Spanish, British, then Spanish again, before becoming American, then Confederate, and finally the United States city it is today.
The Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola is the home of the Blue Angels. There is also a great aviation museum on base. After picking up the rental car we went over to see it. There are over 150 aircraft, representing the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard all on display. Every imaginable flying machine seems to be represented at the museum. Ron Terry would have been in heaven here.
National Naval Aviation Museum
There are several interactive theaters on the museum grounds. In one of the theaters you can experience in 3D what it is like to fly with the Blue Angels. Another theater has several different films that are shown about aviation. The theater is state-of-the-art with a high tech lasar-illuminated digital projector. This produces images on a giant screen that are 3 1/2 times brighter with more brilliant colors than normal theaters. Keith and I watched two films; The Magic of Flight and Aircraft Carrier. We enjoyed both.
The Pensacola Lighthouse is also on the Navy Base. There have been 3 different lights in the general location with the last built in 1859. The first was actually a lightship, the Aurora Borealis which was first stationed at the entrance to Pensacola Bay in the early 1820s. A lighthouse was built for a more stable aid to navigation into the bay in 1824. By the 1850s this lighthouse needed upgrading and to be taller, so another lighthouse was built about 1/2 mile to the west and increased to a height of 159 feet. It was illuminated New Years Day 1859 and is the lighthouse that can be toured today. The structure has seen a lot of history, from Confederate occupation in 1861 and an artillery battle that November between the Confederates in the lighthouse and nearly Fort Pickens occupied by the Union. Six artillery shells hit the lighthouse during the skirmish, but caused mostly minor damage. The lighthouse was twice hit by lightening, first in 1874 and again the next year in 1875. Then in 1886 it was shaken by an earthquake. The Great Charleston Earthquake was so severe that the vibrations could be felt here in Pensacola. The lighthouse keeper at the time said it shook and sounded like several hundred people stomping up the stairs of the lighthouse. With all these strains over the years, several cracks did develop in the structure and it was repaired and upgraded from top to bottom. One hundred years later the lighthouse was put on the National Register of Historic Places.
Pensacola Lighthouse
You can see the Blue Angels hanger with their support plane Fat Albert parked on base from the lighthouse.
The view out over Pensacola Bay is also pretty from the lighthouse.
Going down the stairs was easier than going up
Pensacola Bay provides a well protected harbor and for this reason it was a key spot for early settlements. As I mentioned above, several countries have claimed ownership of the region and all have built forts to protect the entrance to the bay. Fort Barrancas is on the Naval Air Station base and was built by the American Army Corps of Engineers over the ruins of a late 17th century Spanish fort in 1844. It has over 6 million bricks forming walls 4 feet thick and 20 feet high. It is in the shape of a diamond with 2 sides facing the bay, and 2 sides facing the land. The fort saw action during the War of 1812 and the American Civil War. It is now open to the public for self guided tours. Captain Keith and I had planned to walk around the fort on Monday, but we got a delayed start picking up the rental car and did not have time once we toured the Naval Air Museum and Lighthouse. Pengi came along but had to stay in the car. Due to being on an active military base, security was a little tight. They even asked people to leave purses in the car. Poor Pengi. Maybe next time.
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