Johnson Beach

9/2020 UPDATE: Hurricane Sally has broken the east end of Perdido Key into three parts. While still protected as part of Gulf Islands National Seashore, Johnson Beach now has much less access than it did when we visited.

Along a narrow and windswept peninsula, Johnson Beach at Perdido Key provides one of the finer places to enjoy an unsullied shoreline near Pensacola. With miles of beach access, you can find a spot of quiet to call your own.

Resources

North Florida Panhandle Explorers Guide book cover

Overview

Location: Perdido Key
Entrance: 30.299047, -87.418159
Address: 13233 Johnson Beach Rd, Pensacola
Fees: $10 pedestrian / cyclist, $20 vehicle (good for one week)
Restroom: at the main beach complex just inside the gate
Land manager: National Park service
Phone: 850-934-2600

Open 5 AM to sunset. Overnight parking not permitted. Pets and glass containers are not allowed on the beaches.

Directions

From Pensacola, follow SR 292 west around Pensacola Naval Air Station. After the traffic light at Gulf Beach Highway, SR 292 crosses the bridge onto Perdido Key. Turn left onto Johnson Beach Rd after a half mile. Continue to the park entrance gate.

Highlights

Perdido Key Discovery Trail

Showcasing the habitat diversity of Perdido Key at Johnson Beach, the accessible Perdido Key Discovery Trail is a gentle boardwalk over wetlands, forests, and dunes

History

Fort McRee

Pensacola’s deep bay was of intense interest to the United States Navy as soon as Florida became a U.S. territory.

Establishing the Navy Yard for shipbuilding and tapping the oaks of Gulf Breeze for materials, they also sought to defend it. Three forts were built to do so.

Two of these forts – Fort Barrancas, built around an old Spanish fort near the Navy Yard, and Fort Pickens, built at the tip of Santa Rosa Island – still stand today. But the third has been lost to time.

Fort McRee was the smallest of the three forts, but occupied a strategic point at the eastern tip of Perdido Key. To get to the Navy Yard, attackers would have to deal with cannon fire from two sides if they sailed into Pensacola Bay.

Because of the Navy Yard, Pensacola was considered both a high-risk location and a prize when Florida’s militia began to organize to support the growing Confederate cause in 1861.

Just hours before the first salvo of what would become the Civil War broke out in Charleston, South Carolina, the local militia had been fired upon while scouting Fort Barrancas.

Held by Federal troops who fought off an attack in October 1861 from the growing mass of Confederate troops in Pensacola, Fort Pickens began barraging the other two forts with cannon fire.

Ruins of Fort McCree, 1880s (State Archives of Florida)

With the help of two Union gunboats, they destroyed the brick walls of Fort McRee on November 22. Two months later, a lucky shot exploded the fort’s powder magazine. The Confederates finally abandoned the fort in May 1862.

Time and tides took their toll, and what is left of the original fortress, built on the shifting sands of Fosters Bank, is now well under the bay.

Other coastal defense structures still stand near the tip of the island in the dunes, but the original Fort McCree is no more.

Learn More

Johnson Beach

Many years after the Civil War ended, local and state government in Florida enacted what were known as “Jim Crow” laws to limit the free movement of freed slaves and their descendants.

This oceanfront on Perdido Key was one of the few recreation areas in Pensacola open to African Americans that era of segregation.

After his death in 1950, the beach was named for the first local resident to be killed during the Korean War, U.S. Army private Rosamond Johnson.

Johnson Beach memorial — Monument and marker honoring Private Rosamond Johnson

Since 1973, Johnson Beach has been a part of Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Details

Entering through the main gate, you are on Johnson Beach Rd. The first intersection is the only decision point within the park. To the right is the sweep of the original Rosamond Johnson Jr. Beach.

Johnson Beach

The only large parking area in the park adjoins Johnson Beach. A long pavilion separates the parking area from the oceanfront. It’s here you’ll find the only restrooms provided at this park.

Beach wheelchairs are available for visitor use. Ask at the ranger station. Mats are placed across the beach sand for wheelchair access.

One end of the Perdido Key Discovery Trail starts across the road junction just north of the parking area. It is a fully accessible boardwalk.

Big Lagoon

Making a left at that junction leads you down the road past one end of the Perdido Key Discovery Trail to the other end of it. Watch for hikers and cyclists along this short stretch of road.

The road ends at Big Lagoon at a small turnaround area with limited parking on the edges. A short boat ramp and a kayak launch provides access to the lagoon. There is a picnic table set under a tree in a breezy spot.

Johnson Beach Rd

The main road leading out to the end of the island straight ahead at the first junction is Johnson Beach Rd. On older maps it also appears as Fort McRae Rd.

Speed limits are understandably slow along it, and you’ll discover drifts of sand across the road in places. Parking pulloffs are obvious from use. Roadside parking is permitted except where posted.

Mind the “No Parking” signs, especially at the turnaround. Some are placed specifically because the sand is very soft.

Access trails over the dunes lead to wide open beaches on the Gulf of Mexico as well as more slender beaches on Big Lagoon. You can see the observation deck at Big Lagoon State Park to the north.

No facilities are provided along Johnson Beach Rd beyond the main beach at Johnson Beach.