Starting in the 1750s, there were three main forts built along the waterfront in what is now downtown Pensacola.

The first fort, San Miguel de Panzacola, was a small wooden garrison built by the Spanish about 1755. All that we have found of this fort are stains in the sand from posts of the east and west stockade walls and the northeast bastion area.

Upon their arrival in 1763, the British added a bastion to the northwest corner—and--within three years-- they had doubled the size of the fort and renamed it the “Fort of Pensacola.”

But in 1768, the British began construction of a fort that would be bigger and better. Ten years later, they had completed the largest wooden fort ever built in Pensacola.

Excavation of the fort walls revealed wall construction trenches, where we found artifacts such as pottery, buttons and nails. While the wall posts were removed, the stains left behind trace the outline of the city’s old colonial forts.

Written, narrated, and produced by the University of West Florida, the Florida Public Archaeology Network, and WUWF Public Media.