One full day

Betcha' didn't know that the city of Pensacola was originally spelled Panzacola. Thought to be descriptive of the local Choctaw Indians; its a word for 'long-haired people' ... (I naturally felt a little uneasy here).  It was actually another field trip for us as our new friends from Maine (Bob and Joanne) and Iowa (Jim and Carol) invited us to join them on an excursion to visit Fort Barrancas.  Sharon whispered to me before we left "no lobster or corn jokes".  Tough assignment, but I agreed.  We need all the friends we can get.

Fort Barrancas guards the entrance to Pensacola Bay.  The 300 year old fortress orginally built by the Spanish, changed hands a number of times (British, Union and Confederate armies), and finally being manned by the National Parks Service today.  You history buffs will noticed how I quickly glossed over the intricate exchanges of ownership and strategic value of this historic place.  It's a truly facinating story but especially comes to life if you visit the fort.  So if you really want to know all that neat stuff you need to join me in reading park historian David P. Ogden's short, but concise book "The Fort Barrancas Story" and make a visit.

Anyway ... the six of us arrived at the visitors center and recieved our maps and guides and headed up the bluff to tour the facility.  Once atop, the view of Pensacola Bay was indeed commanding.  I know the thought of lobbing cannonballs from the various gun positions to the enemy ships below sounds fun but protecting this crucial peice of real estate was no laughing matter.  As years passed, and as Pensacola Bay became a key naval installation, the fort's value increased into the WWII era.  The narrow deep water entrance to the bay is but a 16 pound cannon ball away so the bad guys usually kept their distance.

Location A:

Bob and Jim are positioned looking seaward along the SSE wall of the fort.  You can see small arms shooting positions all along the wall face.

What I found most interesting about the camp was its construction and the logic the builders used when creating it.  As you can see by the drawing below it was sort of an irregular polygon (ask your local 9th grader if you've forgot what shape that may be).  It was then flanked on two sides by parallel walls that held additional firing positions.  Separating these two structures was a moat-like area designed to funnel any invading ground troops into a 'killing field'.  Inward facing small arms firing positions on each side of the moat assured that no one could breach the defenses.  Now why any fool would advance into that area in the first place is beyond me but we all know those silly British had their traditions in battle.

Location D:

Looking South over the 'killing field' between the inner and outer wall.  Note the small arms firing positions.

Once traversing the moat to the inner portion of the fort we headed down into the area below the canon implacements above.  A long, ornately bricked corridor almost fully restored to its original condition.  This four-sided stucture held the ammunition magazines and crew quarters for up to 150 men. The two longest sides of the inner fort was maybe 500 feet long and along each corridor were outward facing small arms positions.  The other two sides were approximately 300 feet long and had identical firing positions.  If you'll notice the image below labeled "C1",  you'll see the intricate interior brick work.  Quad-arched ceilings at the corners seemed to defy the laws of physics.  These 15 foot marvels were made of brick but the ceiling had no center support to the floor below.  The mortar apparently not only supports the bricks but the massive weight of the 5-10 feet of earth above it.  An explantion of how this all came to be is better describe in Ogden's book so if it's really killing you to know let me know and I'll send you the full scoop on it.

Location C: #1

Notice the intricately hand fitted brick.  This view begins about 5 ft off the floor and proceeds up into an arched ceiling.

I couldn't help myself and asked the park ranger if there were any ghosts on the property.  She kinda of hesitated, looked around and quitely told me that several had been sighted or heard by some visitors and staff alike over the years.  Once inside the long corridors I could see the possibilities.  Tortured souls living in these conditions surely must still be here to share their  plight with unsuspecting visitors.  I was armed with my own Canon ready for any encounter.  As luck would have it I got the draw on one of the wiley spirits of the past and  snapped off a lucky image.  What do you think?

Location C: #2

No telling what you'll encounter along these long, arched corridors. 

There was a large furnace in the fort that was used, not to make smores but to heat cannon balls.  They would heat the balls white hot then two strong armorers would pick them up with a large pincher-like tool and carry them to the firing positions.  Nice work on a cold day I guess, but don't drop one on your boot. Some weighed in excess of 200 pounds.  Apparently white-hot canon balls and wooden ships make for less wooden ships. 

In the center of this little known fort, and well below the canon batteries along the seaward walls was the parade field.  Now I'm not too schooled in these matters but if your going to have a parade, this is not the place I'd pick.  None-the-less that's what it's called.  I coralled our three majorettes (Joanne, Sharon and Carol) and tried to get some sort of a parade started but they had other ideas so I captured what they had in mind.  A well deserved rest from tramping around the ruins.

Location B: #1

Location B: #2

Take three majorettes, add in a couple of trumpets, a clarinet or three, two tubas, and couple of drums and now you'd have a real band to march on this parade field. (at least I found the three majorettes)

Not anxious to end this fine day, we made a stop at the Naval Air Museum (we were here in 2008) not a mile from Fort Barrancas.  Ever changing and always first class, the volunteers who run this place and the donors who support it have a real gem here.  Lots of planes (big surprise), great exhibits, a great gift shop, a bar, a restaurant, neat flight simulators, and an Imax theater make any visit, a great visit.

Made a stop on the way home to Lillians.  Jim and Carol had been there before and recommended we all try it.  Now these folks know their pizza.  I didn't even know they had pizza in Iowa, so wherever they got their expertise they got it right.  Lillians is located on Highway 180 heading east towards the Alabama border, not far from that famous, but really run-down watering hole, Floribama.

Another full day that we greatly enjoyed.  Fantastic new friends, a much needed infusion of new sites and sounds, and some very edible pizza.

Still livin' the dream ... one day at a time.

Phil