Ft. Pickens, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Gulf Breeze, FL
It rained hard from about 1AM and is still raining. That’s good; I needed time to catch up on the blog and other indoor stuff. We went to the shower house about 7AM, in between squalls. Then Penny cut my shaggy locks; I lost weight!
After we had wrapped up our indoor stuff we had cabin fever, so we drove a couple of miles to the historic Ft. Pickens which defended the Oak grove along with two other forts strategically placed around the mouth of Pensacola Bay. It was truly formidable, a massive brick complex with huge cannons all round. The museum displays kept us occupied for an hour as did wandering around the bowels of the fort.
Slaves did all the carpentry and brick work, but their “owners” got paid. Isn’t it ironic that slaves built these forts and the US Capital? Facilities that are icons of our republic were built on the backs of human beings to whom no credit was given. And, they were forced to live separately for years after their freedom was attained in gun battles between these forts in the Civil War. The NPS placards at the fort made mention of this historical fact and it has been irritating me all day.
Tomorrow is a four hour jump to St Joseph Peninsula State Park!
Here are some random photos:
