The Plaza Ferdinand VII is an outdoor garden

Garden

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...

 and park

Park

A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...

 in the historic district

Historic Pensacola Village

The Historic Pensacola Village is a collection of 22 historical buildings and museums owned and operated by the University of West Florida. The organization is largely based upon the donation of T.T. Wentworth's large historical collection to the state of Florida, and the establishment of an...

 of Pensacola, Florida

Pensacola, Florida

Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...

. It is located on Palafox Street between Government and Zaragoza Streets. It was named after Ferdinand VII of Spain, the King of Spain between 1813 and 1833.

Historical significance

The cession of Florida to the United States from Spain occurred at the Plaza on July 17, 1821. General Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...

 made a public speech to townspeople, informing them that the land was now the Florida Territory

Florida Territory

The Territory of Florida was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 30, 1822, until March 3, 1845, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Florida...

, and that Pensacola would be its capital. General Jackson was later sworn in as first Territorial Governor in the plaza. A bust of Jackson now stands at the spot where he was inaugurated.

The plaza was declared a National Historic Landmark

National Historic Landmark

A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...

 in 1960. As such, it was automatically included in the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 when that program began in 1966.

In 1989, the plaza was listed in A Guide to Florida's Historic Architecture, published by the University of Florida Press.

Archaeologists, in 2002, discovered evidence of British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 structures previously not known to have existed in that area.

New Year's Celebration

Main Article:Pelican Drop

Pelican Drop

The Pelican Drop is a New Year's Eve celebration that take place each year in Downtown Pensacola, Florida. At the ceremony, a Pelican, Pensacola's mascot, is dropped instead of the typical New Year's ball...

Plaza Ferdinand is also the sight of the Pelican Drop

Pelican Drop

The Pelican Drop is a New Year's Eve celebration that take place each year in Downtown Pensacola, Florida. At the ceremony, a Pelican, Pensacola's mascot, is dropped instead of the typical New Year's ball...

. The Pelican Drop happen to the west of the Plaza but still is considered to happen in the Area. The Celebration is a huge hit for the Pensacola-Brent-Ferry Pass Metropolitan area. And the numbers has tripled in the lasted 3 years. The first celebration happened in 2008 courtesy of the Pensacola Redevelopment Agency (RCA) and they built a half ton 70 feet tall LED lighted pelican. Which would later become one of the most popular New Years celebrations in the Gulf Coast.