Archaeological traces of late colonial buildings linger in Pensacola

Elizabeth D. Benchley

Editor’s note: This is the 18th of a series of stories that will be featured in the Pensacola News Journal each week leading up to the 200th anniversary of Escambia County. Look for these stories each Monday in print.

Today only a few buildings remain standing from the second Spanish occupation of Pensacola, which ended July 17, 1821, when Florida became an American territory. However, there are still underground traces of colonial buildings in the heart of downtown Pensacola. UWF archaeologists have identified and studied these vestiges for more than 30 years, and new evidence of the Spanish and British colonial landscape is often revealed during modern construction.

The colonial occupation of downtown Pensacola began with the first Spanish military and colonists (circa 1750-1763) who built a temporary settlement that developed into the permanent fort and town of San Miguel de Panzacola. Residential areas outside the fort included compounds with a main house, detached kitchen, warehouse and other buildings arranged around a central courtyard where daily household and craft activities occurred. The courtyard was swept clean and debris accumulated at the edges of the compound. Buildings were made from local wood (pine and cypress) posts placed in narrow trenches in the ground. The gabled end buildings were roofed with bark and palmetto leaves. Large bricks (ladrillos) were made from local clays exposed in the bluffs along the bay and were used in hearths, bake ovens, flooring and chimneys, but rarely in building foundations.

An undated painting of Celestino and Pauline Graupera Gonzalez House on Alcaniz Street in Pensacola

British Pensacola was established as the capital of West Florida, the 14th British colony (1763-1781). The town plan included a grid of streets forming blocks of 12 rectangular house lots that surrounded the central fort district. House and garden lots were given to incoming colonists with the provision that they be fenced and a house measuring at least 15 by 30 feet be built within two years. Houses were timber frame buildings built of local wood with hipped roofs covered with thatch or shakes. The houses were placed on the ground or on brick piers. Bricks were usually made from local clays and were smaller than ladrillos, but larger than later American bricks. Bricks were often used for interior chimneys in houses and for foundations of military buildings inside the Fort of Pensacola. British brick military foundations are visible today in the outdoor exhibits of the Colonial Archaeological Trail in downtown Pensacola. They include foundations of several military kitchens and the British Government House. British house lots also included detached kitchens and storage buildings and wells behind the house. The British deposited their trash and kitchen debris close to their houses, kitchens and across their yards. Sharp items such as broken bottles, glasses, and ceramic dishes were discarded in abandoned wells and trash pits.

The Spanish occupied Pensacola for a second time after they defeated the British in the 1781 Battle of Pensacola. Over 130 British-built houses became available for reoccupation by the new Spanish residents. At the beginning of the Second Spanish period, however, Pensacola had few residents and was administered from New Orleans. After the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, Pensacola became the administrative capital of Spanish West Florida. Many French and Spanish Catholic residents of Louisiana moved to West Florida to avoid being controlled by the Protestant Americans. Revolts against the Spanish and French in the Caribbean also brought new settlers and architectural traditions to the Spanish Gulf Coast.

Although some British-built buildings continued in use, new Gulf Coast Creole-style houses were constructed in vacant lots or replaced deteriorated British buildings. The new Creole frame buildings had central brick chimneys and shake-covered, gabled roofs that sloped over porches on one or both sides of the building. Exterior walls were covered with horizontal boards or white-washed stucco. Most houses were elevated on brick piers. A few buildings, called Gulf Coast Creole High Houses, were multi-storied, and built on tall brick piers, presumably to protect the buildings from flooding.

The house lots laid out in 1765 by the British witnessed multiple construction episodes, and occupations by people from different cultures over time. One house lot studied by UWF archaeologists had an early British occupation dating before 1765 that included two small houses, and several outbuildings, as seen below.

The archaeology revealed that one initial small house had been a timber framed structure placed in a shallow wall trench. Its northwest corner post had been replaced at least once and the deeply set replacement post had been reinforced with a stack of bricks. An outbuilding at the back of the lot also was a wood structure that had plastered walls. The owner in 1765 was Lt. James Hooke, who was not mentioned in the historic record after 1765. By 1778 a larger wood frame house set on brick piers had replaced the 1765 house. Early British household and architectural artifacts were found associated with the house. During the second Spanish period, the lot was owned by land speculators and by 1799, Spanish maps showed no buildings remained on the lot.

The house lot to the west may have had a British house on it by August of 1765 when ownership was awarded to David Dewar provided he build a house by the following day. By 1778 a British map showed two houses on the lot. UWF archaeologists investigated the house at the northwest corner of the West lot and found evidence of an early British timber frame house with deep wall posts set every six feet, a large corner post, a small cellar, and a brick chimney on the south wall. A later British house at the same location had a wide wall trench and plastered walls. Architectural remains included bricks, plaster with lath impressions, nails, and window glass. Other artifacts included abundant animal bones, broken dishes, and bottles dating from the British and Second Spanish occupations.

The second Spanish owner of the West lot was Beltran Suchet (Souchet) who bought the lot and its single wooden house in 1804 and sold it in 1821. The West lot and several surrounding lots were bought by George Barkley between 1825 and 1835. He built what became the last surviving stuccoed brick Gulf Coast Creole High House in Pensacola. Suchet probably did not live in the 1804-1821 wood house in his West lot, however. Like many late Spanish residents, Suchet owned multiple properties in town. According to the 1784 census, Suchet, 30, was living on Michel Street with his Black slave, Juan, 19, and four-month-old Maria Josefa, who was mixed race and probably his daughter.

Between 1787 and 1809, Suchet owned six house lots with eight houses on them. His expensive 1809 house on the main plaza was two stories high. It probably became his residence. In 1817, Suchet petitioned for an 800 arpent parcel at the mouth of Bayou Mulatto for a farm to support his family and slaves and a pasture for his cattle. Also in 1817, he began to sell his lots in town. Another Suchet lot on Alcaniz was subsequently owned by Celestino and Pauline Graupera Gonzalez. The Gulf Coast Creole Cottage on the lot was well-known as Pauline’s home as she lived there for 52 years after Celestino’s death. Descendants of the Beltran Suchet, Pauline Graupera Gonzalez and George Barkley families still live in the Pensacola area today.

Tags: Archaeological, buildings, colonial, Late, linger, Pensacola, traces