Pensacola

President John Quincy Adams ordered a naval shipyard to be built on the Pensacola Bay in 1825, just four years after the United States purchased Florida from Spain. This is the beginning of the city’s storied military history. Three forts were built to defend the shipyard–Fort Barrancas, Fort Pickens and Fort McRee—and interestingly enough, Fort Pickens is one of only a few southern forts to never be under Confederate control throughout the entire Civil War. Although many consider the first shots fired of the Civil War to be at Fort Sumter, three months earlier shots were fired at Fort Barrancas where soldiers were defending the fort from armed insurgents. Today, the Pensacola Naval Complex employs more than 16,000 military and 7,400 civilian personnel. Take a trip to the Nation Museum of Naval Aviation to learn about the region’s military command and to watch the Blue Angels, the US Navy Flight Demonstration Squad, perform aerial stunts at up to 700 mph.