Fort Barrancas will be closed as of 9/30/2024 and not reopen again until May 2025.
When the British Royal Navy sailed into Pensacola Bay in 1763, it was to survey and claim a coastline newly in their possession through the Treaty of Paris.
In that settlement made at the end of the French and Indian Wars, Britain traded Cuba and the Philippines to Spain for Florida.
The Spanish had to leave the cities they’d founded, St. Augustine and Pensacola. The British made those cities the seats of government for East and West Florida.
Pensacola Bay empties into the Gulf of Mexico in front of the fortTo defend Pensacola Bay, the British built a log-and-earthen redoubt atop a high bluff with a line-of-sight for cannons to be aimed at the inlet.
The United States has held this high ground since 1821 in defense of the U.S. Navy shipyard established in Pensacola.
The imposing Fort Barrancas you see today was completed in 1844 atop the bones of the original British redoubt.
A Navy Blue Angel pilot flies over the fortResources
Disclosure: As authors and affiliates, we receive earnings when you buy these through our links. This helps us provide public information on this website.
Overview
Location: NAS Pensacola
Trailhead: 30.3494222, -87.29813
Address: 3182 Taylor Rd, Pensacola
Fees: Free
Restroom: At the visitor center
Land manager: National Park Service
Phone: 850-455-5167
Open Fri-Sun, 9 AM to 4 PM. Last entry to the fort is at 3:30 PM. Pets are only permitted on the nature trails, not in the fort or visitor center.
Proper identification is necessary to enter the gate at NAS Pensacola.
Directions
From I-110 in downtown Pensacola, follow US 98 west 1.4 miles. Veer left onto Barrancas Blvd (SR 272). Continue along it for 9.7 miles to Blue Angel Hwy (SR 173). Turn left. A little more than a mile later is the West Gate for Naval Air Station Pensacola. Have your drivers’ license or passport ready and tell the guard you are headed to Fort Barrancas. Continue 3.4 miles, passing the Pensacola Lighthouse and the National Naval Aviation Museum before turning in at the Fort Barrancas sign on the right.
Explore the Park
A unit of Gulf Islands National Seashore, Fort Barrancas is entirely surrounded by Naval Air Station Pensacola.
Given its strategic importance for the protection of the deep water port of Pensacola Bay, this hill has been under military control for more than 250 years.
A deep ditch baffles the uphill approach to Fort BarrancasThe visitor center should be your first stop for an overview of this National Historic Site. A diorama helps in visualizing the layers of defenses atop and around the fortress.
Siding with the French to aid the American Revolution, the Spanish seized Florida back from the British. Pensacola was one of their earliest conquests.
Touring the Spanish water batteryIn 1797, the Spanish supplanted the British redoubt on this hill with their own water battery to defend the entrance to the bay.
The massive brick fortress you’ll tour today was completed in 1844 as part of the Third System of coastal defenses constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Approach and drawbridge to Fort BarrancasFrom the visitor center, the paved path to Fort Barrancas climbs gradually past a picnic grove, flattening out as it reaches the drawbridge over the ditch.
The entrance trail extends to a promontory with a sweeping panorama of two walls of the fort as well as a series of white walls below. The outlet of Pensacola Bay is dead ahead.
Interpretation at the overlookThe ribbon of white to the right is Perdido Key, its eastern extent protected by the Johnson Beach Unit of Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Built in 1834 at the tip of the island, Fort McRee once guarded the pass with 128 cannons. Erosion claimed it as a victim. Its bricks now lay at the bottom of the bay.
Perdido KeyTo the left, that ribbon of white is the western tip of Santa Rosa Island, protected by the Fort Pickens unit of Gulf Islands National Seashore.
More sizable than Fort Barrancas and of similar construction, Fort Pickens looms on that far shore. The white walls directly below the base of this fort are the 1797 Spanish battery.
Fort Barrancas sits above the Spanish batteryBacktrack and cross the drawbridge over the moat. Inside the walls of the fort, interpretive signage guides you through the use of its chambers by the military garrison.
More than six million bricks make up this multi-level structure. Thanks to the norms of architecture at the time it was designed, its brick tunnels have a very Gothic feel.
Passageway inside the fortOne of the underground passageways connects to the original Spanish battery, now a fort within a fort with more chambers to explore.
Within it, steep stairs and whitewashed walls are crowned with architectural flourishes and opportunistic vegetation.
Inside the Spanish Water BatteryAn open, now grassy muster ground occupies the interior of Fort Barrancas, with elevated platforms for the cannon. A well in the middle is capped off.
The fort did not see action until January 8, 1861. When local militia nosed around the fortress, the guards fired warning shots over their heads.
Cannon atop the battlementsSome historians claim the volley as the first shots of the Civil War, since the incident occurred hours before militia in Charleston fired on a merchant steamer approaching Fort Sumter.
Two days later, Florida seceded from the Union. When Commander Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer received word, he ordered his men to destroy their gunpower and cannons.
Ammunition storageCrossing the bay, Slemmer and his troops took over Fort Pickens, which he considered more defensible. The Confederates took the Navy Yard, Fort Barrancas, and its Redoubt.
Federal troops did not return to Barrancas until Confederate General Braxton Bragg retreated in February 1862 to merge his troops with the Army of the Tennessee.
Slots for firing rifles from a passagewayCoastal defense remained of importance during the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II. But in 1946, the fortress was decommissioned.
It sat for many decades until the National Park Service took on the task of restoring and interpreting this significant historic site.
Fort Barrancas and the Spanish Water Batteries are not the only fortresses on this bluff. To see the third one, the Advanced Redoubt, you must take a hike.
Defensive earthworks were constructed during the Civil WarHiking
Two interpretive trails flank the visitor center. To the left, a 1.1 mile round-trip on the Trench Trail leads to and around the Advanced Redoubt.
A third of the way along, the trail crosses Taylor Rd on a crosswalk. Continue through relict sandhill and scrub to emerge in front of a surprisingly large brick fort.
Fall color along the Trench TrailSurrounded by a ditch, it has an entrance ramp. Constructed as a backup fort immediately after Barrancas was complete, it was to protect the Pensacola Naval Yard. It never ended up being used.
The National Park Service provides tours of the interior. Check with the Visitor Center for the next scheduled tour. On your own, simply walk around the Redoubt to take in its size.
The Advanced RedoubtTo the right of the visitor center, the Woodland Nature Trail starts behind a display of artillery. It traverses a hilly coastal hammock with small patches of coastal scrub.
Entirely in deep shade, the half mile circuit is pleasant and easy to follow, with a few benches and interpretive markers along the way.
Fort Barrancas Woodland Trail The gentle Woodland Nature Trail loops a half mile through a patch of woodlands downhill from the promontory where Fort Barrancas stands above Pensacola Bay at Naval Air Station Pensacola.Trail Map
Explore More!
Learn more about Gulf Islands National Seashore
Gulf Islands National Seashore Stretching across three Gulf Coast states, Gulf Islands National Seashore protects portions of the barrier islands between Navarre Beach, Florida and Gulfport, Mississippi.Video
The Blue Angels practice over Fort Barrancas. Although there are viewing stands at the National Naval Aviation Museum across Taylor Rd, this high ground is the best place we’ve come across to see them up close during their weekday practice flights.
Slideshow
See our photos of Fort Barrancas
Nearby Adventures
More worth exploring while you’re in this area.
Big Lagoon State Park Explore a sweep of coastal forest and wetlands along one of Florida's largest lagoons, with panoramas that stretch to Perdido Key and the Gulf of Mexico.
Johnson Beach As part of Gulf Islands National Seashore, the windswept tip of Perdido Key goes on for miles at Johnson Beach. Discover natural habitats and wild shores along its length.
Tarkiln Bayou Preserve State Park Conserving a vast swath of wetland habitats in low-lying areas along the Perdido River floodplain, Tarkiln Bayou Preserve State Park is home to four species of Sarracenia - pitcher plants - unique to the Gulf Coast. 
Fort Pickens With more than seven miles of beaches along Santa Rosa Island, the Fort Pickens Unit at Gulf Islands National Seashore is a compelling destination at Pensacola Beach.
- Hal Scott Yellow Trail - November 3, 2026
- Hal Scott Preserve - October 28, 2026
- Tradewinds Park - October 27, 2026