Fort Barrancas is an old fort originally built by the Spanish to defend Pensacola Bay. The oldest portion is the white mason structure called the water battery - it housed cannons pointed at the water which would skip cannon shot off the water to hit enemy ships at the waterline as they attempted to enter P-cola Bay. P-cola Bay is large enough to port a small sailing fleet of warships and so was heavily defended. The Fort (brown masonry) behind the water battery was built to protect the cannons from land attack. The underground passageways have portals through which a musket could be use to defend invading infantry. The Fort and battery were manned from the late 1600's until the end of the Civil War, then abandoned as the technology of the day rendered it unnecessary. It has been well preserved and the pictures are taken from inside the underground passageways and around the outside of the structure. The nearby cemetary has been used for military burials since 1838 and includes many aviators, three Medal of Honor recipients and the Apache wife of Geronimo. Many of the more than 30,000 graves are from local battles during the Civil War when the Navy Yard at Pensacola was valued by both sides as the most useful port accessing the Gulf of Mexico. I put in a picture of one of the Blue's jets, for Grayson and Landon. Also, there's a picture of the Mustin Beach Officer's Club - a historic club named after the father of Naval Aviation. Most of the nicer buildings on base were built after the Civil War and have a "southern plantation" look. The old Navy Hospital and wall built around it are also landmarks as the sign in the last picture denotes.
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