The Constitution saw action against the British during the War of 1812, receiving the nickname Old Ironsides, due to the strength of its live oak construction. To ensure a future supply of the valuable live oak, the United States Government reserved thousands of acres of southern woodlands to protect the trees from timber interests. The need for wooden ship timbers diminished with the advent of iron and steel warships. However, in 1926 live oak timbers from the Pensacola area were found to be useful in the restoration of the USS Constitution, a National Monument. Today, as a reminder of the importance of the live oak to our heritage, its story is told here at Gulf Islands National Seashore.

A Natural Area

Along the bay and sound, underwater grass beds shelter a variety of fish, crustaceans and mollusks. They include striped Mullet, speckled seatrout, blue crabs, oysters and whelks. Sheltered from the harsh forces of the Gulf of Mexico by a barrier island, the Santa Rosa Peninsula contains a great diversity of plant life. Live oaks are covered with Spanish moss. Southern magnolia, pignut hickory, slash, sand and longleaf pines grow tall. Also found here are titi, sweet bay, holly, wax myrtle, and blueberries. The forest floor is covered by saw palmetto, smilax briars, and prickly pear cactus. The area is a haven for reptiles such as the skink, eastern diamond-back rattlesnake and coral snake. Small mammals like the fox, bobcat, squirrel, and raccoon find homes in the forest where deer once roamed.

A Cultural Area

The shell middens from the Santa Rosa Swift Creek Period, A.D. 1 to A.D. 600, indicate primitive agriculture supplemented by marine fishing, hunting of birds and other animals and the gathering of native plant foods. The stoneware is more developed with decorative stamped markings. The ceramics of the Weeden Island Period, A.D. 600 to A.D. 1400, are outstanding in quality, shape and decoration. During this time agricultural activities increased and native populations moved from the coast to the more fertile soil of the upland areas. The final native period represented in this area is the Fort Walton Period, A.D. 1400 to A.D. 1750.

The ceramics of this period are highly developed. Farming became the dominant economic activity as evidenced in the increasing shift of populations to the more fertile interior croplands. Yet villages remained similar to preceding periods. The aboriginal populations of the Gulf Coast changed profoundly after A.D. 1650, during the Leon-Jefferson Period. Europeans had visited the area and began to establish a chain of mission sites along the Gulf Coast, introducing Christianity, new agricultural tech piques, and disease. As a result, native populations decreased rapidly. The few natives left adopted European cultures. Many years of vandalism, pot hunting and neglect have destroyed much of the remaining evidence concerning the prehistoric culture of the Gulf Coast.

Today, professional archaeologists strive to uncover and understand what remains of these Native American cultures. The sites inhabited by prehistoric people within the boundaries of Gulf Islands National Seashore are strictly protected in order to preserve them for all people who wish to learn about these early cultures.

After many years of colonization by the Spanish, French and British, Florida became a United States territory in 1821. A piece of Florida's first road, the Pensacola-St. Augustine mail road, built in 1824, traverses the north side of the Naval Live Oaks Area.

The United States purchased the land which comprises the present Naval Live Oaks Area in 1828 with the goal of reserving its valuable timber resources. President John Quincy Adams authorized the establishment of a federal tree farm in the Naval Live Oaks Area on January 18, 1829. It marked our nation's first efforts at conservation of a natural resource. Superintendent Henry Marie Brackenridge, who lived on the tree farm, experimented with cultivating the live oak tree. He was perhaps our country's first federal forester.