Moreno Cottage
This quaint, two-room "shotgun" cottage was built in 1870 by prominent local businessman Don Francisco Moreno for his favorite daughter, La Perle, one of the youngest of his 27 children by three wives.
"Shotgun" homes are so-called because they are constructed as a series of rooms connected without a hallway; thus, a shot could be fired through the front door and exit out the back door without hitting anything. Such homes were common throughout the American South from the end of the Civil War through the early decades of the 20th century.
The Moreno Cottage was a gift for La Perle on the eve of her marriage to Octavius Smith. It contained no kitchen, as the newlyweds took their meals in the main Moreno home which once stood on the same lot. La Perle and Octavius' daughter, Corrine Fennel, later owned and lived in the cottage, followed in turn by her daughter-in-law, Leota Acosta.
Source material compiled by "I Remember When," on behalf of the Pensacola Chamber Commerce, for the Historical Guide to Pensacola, and by West Florida Historic Preservation, Inc. Additional material written by Erika Wilhite.
