Gulf Islands National Seashore

Dec 1, 2021

As we took off our first stop was in Pensacola to see some of our friends. While we were there we got to check out Fort Pickens and the Gulf Islands National Seashore. This was an unexpected stop but fit in perfectly with our goal to visit as many National Parks and Monuments we can while we travel this year. The National Parks make great curriculum for social studies and science and the National Park Service has done a great job developing the Junior Ranger program that gives the kids a fun way to learn about each park. My girls are obsessed with earning the badge at each park we go to.

So when we decided to head for Fort Pickens they were thrilled to learn that it was part of Gulf Islands National Seashore and that they had a JR Ranger program they could do! We learned all about the barrier islands and how they continue to to shift along the coast but provide important protection during hurricanes to the gulf coast. At Fort Pickens we learned about the system of forts that were built in the 1800s to protect the navy yard and the bay from foreign attacks. By far our favorite part of exploring the fort was going into the vast tunnel systems…some too small for adults to get through easily so the girls had a fun time taking the flashlight and running down the various tunnels themselves.

We’ll look forward to doing a little more study on Fort Pickens and how it was the only fort in the south to stay in Union hands through the Civil War.

~Heather