| Welcome to Gulf Breeze, Florida. With over 300 days of sunshine a year and easy access to the Gulf of Mexico's best beaches and water activities, Gulf Breeze is a great place to live in and to visit. Besides activities such as snorkeling, diving, surfing and sunbathing, there are also watercrafts available for rent along with fishing charters. For those who rather would like to go fishing from the pier can do so with no license required.
The Gulf Breeze Zoo is a 50 acre zoo that includes hundreds of animals, a boardwalk overlooking a free range preserve, CP Huntington style train, as well as other amenities. The Gulf Breeze Zoo features various events throughout the year including Boo at the Zoo and Zoo Lights.
Gulf Breeze became famous (or infamous) in 1987 as the site of several UFO sightings. Gulf Breeze residents claim to have seen UFOs that still persist to this day. News of high-quality UFO photos spread rapidly and world-wide, and became the subject of newspaper and magazine articles, television talk shows and feature programs.
A little history: in 1559, Tristan de Luna arrived in Pensacola Bay with 500 Spanish soldiers. The first settlement was abandoned due to diseases, disasters and the presence of hostile Indians, but other Europeans followed. In the late 1700's, the British occupied the peninsula where Gulf Breeze is today and named it Town Point. By the early 1930's, bridges between Pensacola and Gulf Breeze and Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach were completed as was Highway 98. Gulf Breeze's namesake was established in 1936 when the Gulf Breeze Cottages and Store opened a post office branch where Live Oaks Plaza now stands.
Just to the east of the City of Gulf Breeze, the Naval Live Oaks Reservation was the home of America!s first experimental tree farm, established by President John Quincy Adams in 1828. It was established to provide raw material to support shipbuilding for the Navy in the area. Today, Naval Live Oaks is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, a unit of the National Park Service and serves as an excellent recreational area. Naval Live Oaks (also known as Deer Point Live Oaks Reservation or Deer Point Plantation) offers 1,300 acres of parklands.
The political subdivisions can at times be confusing in this part of Florida. The City of Gulf Breeze is located in Santa Rosa County and is near Pensacola....which is located in Escambia County. Pensacola Beach is an unincorporated area located on Santa Rosa Island...which is in Escambia County, not Santa Rosa County. Our advice: forget all this and enjoy the area instead.
There's so much to see and experience in Gulf Breeze - come visit us! |
