Our last stop in Florida was Fort Pickens, the largest of four forts built to defend Pensacola Bay and its navy yard. It is on the western tip of Santa Rosa Island, the long barrier island forming the southern boundary of Pensacola Bay and is now part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.  The original fort was built starting in 1829 and was completed in 1834. Major improvements were made over the years until the fort was determined to be obsolete in 1947 with the advent of aircraft carriers, long-range bombers and missiles. Over 21.5 million bricks were used in the original fort. They were transported to the site of the fort by barge. Workers were skilled African-American slaves from New Orleans who suffered from an unfriendly climate, yellow fever, and heat exhaustion during the project.

In addition to the main fort, Fort Pickens includes several coastal batteries arrayed around the fort.Fort Pickens has a modest but very nice museum with informative displays about Santa Rosa Island and the fort itself. One fascinating multimedia displayed told the story of how granite hills, rocks and mountains in the Pensacola watershed in Georgia and Alabama break down over time and are conveyed to the shore in streams and rivers, producing the white quartz beaches of Santa Rosa Island.

Nestled in the wilds near the fort itself is the campground that was built in the 1950’s when the fort had concluded its useful military role. Our sites backed up to a marsh that seemed to be home to many red winged blackbirds, herons, and ospreys.

It was a  very short walk across the campground road to the sand dunes and the beach. Surf was running fairly high during our stay so spent our time on the beach instead of in the water. Looking both ways down the beach, the density of visitors seemed to be about one beach blanket per mile!