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The City of Gulf Breeze is located on
the end of the Fairpoint peninsula in Santa Rosa County. Gulf Breeze is
separated on the north by a three mile bridge across Pensacola Bay from the
City of Pensacola and the south by the Bob Sikes Bridge over Santa Rosa
Sound to Pensacola Beach. On the east, landward up the peninsula
is the 1,329 acre Naval Live Oaks portion of the Gulf Islands National
Seashore. It is just a
few minutes from the Gulf of Mexico and the City of Pensacola.
Gulf Breeze shares a rich history with
the entire Florida Panhandle. In 1559, Tristan de Luna arrived in Pensacola
Bay with 500 Spanish soldiers. The first settlement was abandoned due to
diseases, disasters and hostile Indians, but other Europeans followed. In
the late 1700's, the British occupied the peninsula 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.
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.
In Gulf Breeze, you'll find the best
of all worlds - unspoiled natural beauty and a relaxed lifestyle.
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