Old Christ Church

The Anglican church on Seville Square was built in 1832. During the Confederacy it was turned into a hospital. When the Union troops took the town they continued to use the building as such. It was restored in the 1870's but was later turned into the town library. Only recently has it become a church again. It is simple, but charming.

Pensacola

The faux Victorian house is in the newer part of the Village. It is painted lilac, a color that might make eyeballs pop in other parts of the country, but in Florida it fits right in. The other building is a historical one, overlooking the inner bay. Many of the homes were built raised about ten feet off the ground to protect them from the inevitable flood waters during storms. I suspect that this part of the bay is less vulnerable since it is protected by a barrier island. That island, Santa Rosa, has been rebuilt with new beach homes since the last major hurricane nearly wiped it off the map. People are certainly stubborn -- or incredibly stupid.

Pensacolum iterum

Now that the orchestra has taken over I find myself in the curious position of having nothing to do. I was booked for a return flight for Sunday because Andy thought I would be assigned to take care of the supertitles during the performances. Thank Wotan I am not (it's a really boring thing to do). We looked into changing my flight to an earlier date, but it proved too costly. So, I am stranded here for another four days. My hosts, ever hospitable, have no problem with that. I will attend the second dress rehearsal this evening and then both performances.
After a cold, rainy spell it has suddenly warmed up again with temperatures at a balmy 75 today. I decided to head back to Pensacola and enjoyed a near perfect day there. The Pensacola Village area, which abuts the downtown, has many structures from the early 1800's. No fewer than twenty-two buildings are marked as historic landmarks. One wonders how these fragile structures have survived two centuries of hurricanes. It is a delightful residential area. Even the modern section adjoining it is built in the style of the old Creole Bungalows. The Pensacola civic leaders made some wise decisions. The street names belie their Spanish origins, such as Zarragossa, Salamanca, Tarragona and Aragon Streets. After a scrumptious lunch in a cafe overlooking Seville Square I drove over the bay bridge to Santa Rosa Island which fronts the Gulf. The white sands are perfect for a long walk, accompanied by the sound of the crashing surf.

Pensacola

Mid-afternoon I headed east towards Pensacola, Florida. It is about an hour away. I had no great urge to go there, but I had read that it was a historic city, and it was in Florida, and I had never been there. It is one of the nicest small cities I have ever visited in the States, bright, clean and prosperous. It was founded in 1559 and claims to be the oldest settlement in the USA (take that, Jamestown!). Saint Augustine, on the Atlantic coast, founded in 1565, can lay claim to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the continental US. After the Spanish initially established themselves in what is now Pensacola with a large contingent of ships and people (1,500) they abandoned the settlement a few years later. The reason was a devastating hurricane. The surviving inhabitants then moved up the Atlantic coast to an island off the Carolinas, but a hurricane found them there, too. After that they gave up. Pensacola has been under the flag of the Spanish, French, British, Confederate States and, of course, the USA. It became part of the nation in 1821 when the Spanish relinquished their claim to Florida. Andrew Jackson was its first Governor and Pensacola its biggest settlement.
Besides the attractive business district there is Pensacola Village, a neighborhood of picturesque clapboard and Victorian style bungalows. I suspect that the apparent prosperity of the town is due to the proximity of a large naval base.
From the downtown area it is only a walk of a few blocks to the harbor. There was this curious looking vessel berthed there, the HOS Achiever. After a bit of investigating on the internet I have discovered that it is an all-purpose delivery vessel, serving off-shore oil rigs and things like that. There is what I guess to be a helicopter landing pad on the front of the vessel. It's the weirdest ship I've ever seen.