One day every year you can visit the Historic Pensacola Village for free. For this year, it’s Saturday, September 7.
If you’ve never been to the Historic Village, it’s a two-block section of downtown where the University of West Florida’s Historic Trust operates a collection of museums and historic structures.
Saturday’s special event is their Open House, and Phillip Mayhair, the education and interpretation supervisor with UWF’s Historic Trust, said it’s the perfect introduction to Pensacola’s past for long-time residents and for newcomers.
“For someone new to town, this is a great place to come down and learn about the history and the culture of Pensacola through the years,” he added. “The Historic Village is quite compact and the whole distance from one end of the complex to the other is only two blocks. So it's all within walking distance. It’s a big blowout where we pull out all the stops and do a lot of special activities and tours. Everything is free.”
Here’s a look at the top highlights of the Historic Pensacola Open House, according to Mayhair.
Pensacola Museum of History
Mayhair suggests starting your day with the Pensacola Museum of History. "It is housed in the old city hall that was built in 1908," he explained. "The first floor of the museum is a good overview of the history of Pensacola. We just opened a new exhibit on the third floor that's about different sports that Pensacola has seen throughout the years.”
Pensacola Museum of Art
Formerly, the city jail, the PMA has two floors of exhibits that are constantly rotating, said Mayhair. The museum is celebrating its 70th anniversary with a special art show collection this year.
Pensacola Children’s Museum
Bring the whole family and take advantage of the Pensacola Children's Museum where there are hands-on activities. "It's a great way for them to get exposed to the history of Pensacola, but it's all done in a fun, interactive way," said Mayhair. "They can dress up and play with things in the museum. The first floor has old downtown in a miniature form that they can play in. On the second floor, there are different gallery spaces. There's a school. There is a small Publix grocery store. There's an exhibit about the Gulf of Mexico. And our latest exhibit is a medical exhibit so they can dress up as doctors and nurses. It makes going to the doctor not so scary for the kids.”
Pensacola Museum of Commerce
See what Pensacola would have looked like around the turn of the century at the Museum of Commerce with storefronts of barber shops, hardware stores, and a music store. "There's one of the old electric streetcars that ran down the street," added Mayhair. "It's got one of the early traffic lights of Pensacola in there, too.” During the Open House, the Pensacola Mountain Dulcimer Wildflowers will be playing music and talking about their instrument, the mountain dulcimer. The Flora-Bama Cutups Woodcarving Club is also doing demonstrations. Fun fact: WUWF's monthly concert series RadioLive is held in the museum!
Living history
Experience Historic Pensacola through the people who “live” there. There will be people representing different periods of time from the Colonial era to World War II, said Mayhair. “We'll also be doing some open hearth cooking demonstrations in an outdoor kitchen. There we'll be cooking colonial recipes of foods that would have been found here in Pensacola.”
Historic houses
Haven’t you wondered what some of the historic houses downtown look like inside? Here’s your chance. Some of the houses during the event will be available for self-guided tours and some will have guided tours every half hour. "Those are the Lavallee house, which was built around 1805. It's furnished as it would have been in the time period. The Dorr House was built in 1871. It's a little yellow house, and we'll have some new information during those tours," said Mayhair. There will also be tours of Old Christ Church, which was built in 1832.
During the annual Open House, all museums will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The only street closure will be Zaragoza Street between Tarragona and Adams. For more information, visit historicpensacola.org.
