History of tourism in early Pensacola: How industry started, evolved
Editor’s note: This is the 26th of a series of stories that will be featured in the Pensacola News Journal to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Escambia County. Look for these stories each Monday in print.
Long before the condos of Pensacola Beach lured visitors to the sugar white beaches of Santa Rosa Island, early Pensacola boosters tried to lure tourists, especially from New Orleans and Mobile, with enticing descriptions of cool sea breezes, beautiful fresh water springs and a “healthy climate.”
Of course, reality and image were two different things. Rachel Jackson in 1821 thought Pensacola was a beautiful city, but she noted that “the weather is oppressively warm to me, and raining every day. Sometimes the streets are two feet deep in water. … It has rained three months, almost every day.” In 1826 a German tourist left behind an unflattering description of the city: “(Pensacola) is the most miserable place that I have beheld since I crossed the Atlantic. … The deepest sand covers the unpaved streets. … Only a few houses are of brick, they are mostly of wood. …There is not a single ship in the port. … The country about Pensacola and the shores of the bay are the most disagreeable that can be conceived of; nothing but sand heaps dazzling-white like snow.”
Pensacola boosters tried to change the image of Pensacola by touting its saltwater bathing houses, cool sea breezes, abundance of fresh water springs, numerous game animals to hunt and a wide variety of fish to catch in the bay. George Catlin, the famous painter of Native Americans, visited Pensacola in the 1830s and praised the city as a refuge for travelers: “(Pensacola’s) shores (are) continually fanned by the refreshing breathings of the sea. To a northern man, the winters in that place appear like a continual spring-time; and the intensity of a summer’s sun is cooled into comfort and luxury by the ever-changing sea breeze.” Hotels and taverns were built in the city to cater to guest that came every summer from New Orleans, Pascagoula and Mobile. Steamers and schooners offered tourists pleasure trips to the Navy Yard, Santa Rosa Island’s Gulf beaches and the Blackwater communities. J.O. Smith’s drug store offered soda water, and William Peterson (opposite the Episcopal church) had porter and ale for sale. Accommodations for tourists could be found at the Eagle Tavern, the Florida House, William Chase’s Hotel, Sturnedo’s lodging house, the Globe House and the Hernandez House. The average cost was about $1.50 per night.
► Entertainment:Dances, Patgo and ‘Star-Spangled Banner’: How early Pensacola embraced
► Cuisine: Food that early Pensacola settlers ate reflected the region’s diverse cultures
► New businesses:Shift from Spanish to American rule opened doors for Pensacola businesses
By the 1840s, a new citizen noted that the bay is covered “for more than a mile with bathing houses, and the shores and wharf crowded with fisherman … Just take a walk through our city — see the white sandy streets, with broad pavements and long rows of shade trees — china, magnolia and sundry other kinds.” The French naval squadron visited Pensacola in the 1840s, adding to the lure of the port city. Francis G. Sturnedo opened up a restaurant and even advertised in New Orleans and Mobile newspapers. He boasted a well-served table with food cooked in the best style in “Italian or French fashions.” Sturnedo also added an ice cream garden, “shaded with beautiful plants and flowers, forming a very fine arbour where Ladies and Gentlemen can be accommodated with the different kinds of Ice Cream and cakes.” Also available was liquor and a billiard table, and the promise was made that patrons “by sitting in the front gallery, will have the pleasure of viewing all the harbour round, the American and French squadrons lying at anchor, also vessels coming in and out, and a beautiful sea breeze blowing from morning until night, which renders our city so extremely healthy in summer, and more especially the cool, clear and crystal spring water that we have here.”
By the mid-1840s, weekly steamboat summer packets were running between New Orleans and Pensacola, bringing visitors to the port city. The tourists especially enjoyed tours of the Pensacola Navy Yard and a trip to the Gulf beaches on Santa Rosa Island. In the 1850s, various out-of-state military companies would come to visit Pensacola, especially around the Fourth of July, and there would be demonstrations, balls and other festivities.
The Pensacola Gazette portrayed life in the city as idyllic: “Pensacola is a pleasant place: its men are gallant; its women modest and pretty. The children cry in moderation, and the dogs, though continually, do bark naturally. Every thing nature does, she does well.” But this was image. In the 1840s a hapless out-of-town visitor ended up being attacked twice by the rowdy dogs which habitually roamed the streets of Pensacola. After the second run-in (with a pack of some 50 dogs!) the man immediately chartered a boat for Mobile and said “he had come to spend the summer, but that the dogs had entered their ‘solemn protest’ and that he submitted.” Even those who came for the fishing, or more adventurous sea-bathing, had to be wary of the shark-infested waters of Pensacola Bay. Shark attacks were common in the bay, and parents were wanted to protect their children from going in the waters. Sharks that were 11, 13 and even 18 feet were caught in Pensacola Bay.
But the largest obstacle to Pensacola’s early tourism was the annual summer scourge of yellow fever, which struck Pensacola more than 15 times between 1821 and 1860, killing at least 600 people over the years. Whenever yellow fever did appear, it was always downplayed by the media so as not to cause damage to Pensacola’s image. Not until 1900 was the disease finally correctly diagnosed and mosquito prevention measures taken. So it was really not until the 20th century and the eradication of yellow fever that the full potential of the Gulf Coast opened up for tourism. By 1931 a series of bridges finally connected Pensacola to Santa Rosa peninsula and Santa Rosa Island and its snow white beaches. The modern age of tourism had arrived, finally realizing the dreams of those early boosters and promoters from one hundred years before.
Brian Rucker is a professor of history at Pensacola State College
Catch up on the rest of the series
Part 1:Setting the stage: Our Pensacola is fifth Spanish settlement on Pensacola Bay
Part 2:How did Pensacola end up back in Spanish control for a second time?
Part 3:How Andrew Jackson set up a ‘good government’ for Pensacola and Florida
Part 4:From newspapers to circuses, Escambia County and Pensacola have many ‘firsts’
Part 5:How early Pensacola treated disease outbreaks and the role of health care
Part 6:Cultural survival on the run: Pensacola’s history shaped by Native Americans
Part 7:Life in 1820s Pensacola was primitive, but cosmopolitan. A look at our early years.
Part 8:How the Sampler project aims to connect us with our Pensacola ancestors from 1821
Part 9:Dances, Patgo and ‘Star-Spangled Banner’: How early Pensacola embraced entertainment
Part 10:How the mail was (and often wasn’t) delivered in early Pensacola
Part 11:More than a name: Meet a few of Pensacola’s residents from 1821
Part 12:Historic St. Michael’s Cemetery in Pensacola holds paradise of memory
Part 13:A deeper look at Pensacola’s fascinating Spanish colonial heritage | Part 1
Part 14:What census data and land records tell us about Spanish West Florida | Part 2
Part 15:Food that early Pensacola settlers ate reflected the region’s diverse cultures
Part 16:What a typical Pensacola home looked like during the Spanish colonial period
Part 17:Forts and bricks: How the military and industry evolved in early Pensacola
Part 18:Archaeological traces of late colonial buildings linger throughout Pensacola
Part 19:How indigenous laborers from Mexico built and rebuilt Pensacola
Part 20:Shift from Spanish to American rule opened doors for Pensacola businesses
Part 21:From primitive roads to stuck steamboats, transportation woes abounded in early Pensacola
Part 22:Water-powered mills like Arcadia were key in development of early Pensacola
Part 23:How steam power helped build the community of Bagdad
Part 24:Religious landscape of early Pensacola laid foundation for community of many faiths
Part 25:Plantation system of slavery spread across Antebellum Florida after 1821
How you can get involved
What: A web-based interactive mosaic of faces from our modern community honoring the 1821 community.
Why: To celebrate our rich and diverse heritage through a reflection of our modern community.
Who: Area residents, all ages, ethnicities and genders.
How: Fill out the form at 1821sampler.com. and upload your photo to represent a member of the 1821 Pensacola community (use an uncluttered background, clearly showing face and shoulders, no hats please, and names optional.
So far, researchers with the West Florida Genealogical Society have identified more than 2,000 individuals who were here when Florida passed from Spain to the United States. These were more than just names; every person had a rich life and history. By honoring a member of the 1821 community, you are participating in this celebration of our rich and diverse Florida heritage.
