Historic Pensacola is getting a new look. Here's how the site is evolving.

Historic Pensacola, which encompasses 8.5 acres and 30 historic buildings stretching from Palafox Street to Florida Blanca Street, has a series of renovation and improvement projects underway to keep the Pensacola gem relevant long into the future.

From the brand-new brick path that’s being laid out in the Historic Village to the renovated Museum of Industry, the Historic Trust is pulling out all stops to create a better experience for its visitors.

The fight for balance, said Executive Director Robert Overton, is in managing the site’s preservation needs alongside the needs of tourists.

“Several years ago we did a master plan for the site on how we wanted to improve (the site) to make these wonderful historic assets we have work better for the community,” Overton said. “We have to evolve, the way I like to look at it is we’re taking advantage of some of the opportunities that some of the downtown (development) pressure is putting on us.”

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The closest project to completion is renovations at the Museum of Industry, where the Historic Trust has done work on the building itself, as well as adding a fence and a new path for visitors that is more accessible for people with disabilities.

Additionally, they’ve renovated the century-old train car in front of the Museum of Industry and created an overhead to better protect it from natural elements. “Putting a covering over it is really going to make it last longer,” Historic Preservationist Ross Pristera said.

Visitors should be able to see the new site in just a few days, according to Pristera, as issues with electrical wiring have delayed the Museum of Industry’s re-opening.

What’s at the Historic Trust?

Whether you’re a local or a visitor of Pensacola, the Historic Trust’s site has something for every kind of historian to explore.

After purchasing a ticket at one of their service desks, visitors can take any of the Historic Trust’s self-guided-tour sites including the Pensacola Museum of History or the Pensacola Museum of Art.

If you’d like to see a visual demonstration of colonial life, you can head over to the Historic Village on East Zaragoza Street. From here, you can also join a guided tour, where Historic Trust staff will walk you through sites such as the Lear House that immerses visitors in the lives of the home’s former residents.

There are 30 properties in downtown Pensacola that make up the Historic Trust, 12 of which are normally available to the public.

Sites like the Dorr House and Museum of Industry are temporarily closed to the public during their renovation projects.

The Historic Trust possesses over 150,000 artifacts of either historical or antiquarian interest to the city of Pensacola, Escambia County and West Florida as a whole.

The Historic Trust is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. The entire site is closed on Mondays.

The trust also has the Arcadia Mil in Milton, which is available during the same times.

What’s changing in the Historic Trust?

The Historic Trust’s leadership is focused on developing its existing public space to be more welcoming for visitors beginning with the Museum of Industry.

The train car was formerly owned by the T.R. Miller company before it was donated to the Historic Trust by one of its former volunteers, who also pitched in thousands of dollars to kickstart the project.

“We talked to (the donor) about what (the project) would cost and she donated $400,000 to us to do this project,” Overton said.

An additional $100,000 was donated for the project, which has helped the Historic Trust improve other aspects such as lighting and the incoming paved path throughout the Historic Village.

“We had funding for a covering, we wanted to use additional funding to make sure that we’re doing better ADA access,” Overton said.

“Now we were able to make (the Museum of Industry) so that everybody, no matter their ability or disability, can go in and out the same entrance,” he continued. “It’s our goal to eventually have everything as much as we can done that way, it’s a challenge with historic structures.”

Interior renovations on the Dorr House are also still underway, which the Historic Trust says could open up sometime next month.

The Historic Trust finished renovating the historic home’s windows in the fall and is currently finishing up interior work. Both projects were done using state grant funds.

Once their work at the Museum of Industry has finished, the Historic Trust will start re-painting some of their historic homes, like the Lavalle House and the Lear/Rocheblave House, while implementing their other infrastructure plans.

Included in their infrastructure goals are plans to narrow East Zaragoza Street and implement a crosswalk that will lead visitors directly into the Historic Village. The Historic Trust has been working with the city of Pensacola to achieve this plan, according to Overton.

There are no plans for the same layout on the other side of the village ? at East Government Street ? in order to create a better focus for visitors at the front of the Historic Village.

“The entrance to the village is hard to see, so part of (our process) was let’s try to do an actual entrance,” Pristera said. “By the end of the (calendar) year the street should be done, the village will have whole a new walkway system and the buildings will be painted… It’ll be a whole new kind of area.”

How do I get tickets to UWF's Historic Trust?

You can purchase tickets to tour the Historic Trust at one of the service desks around its site, including the Pensacola Museum of History and the Tivoli High House. You can also buy tickets online at https://historicpensacola.org.

Purchasing tickets will get you access to every publicly-available site within the Historic Trust for seven days from the date that your ticket is presented at one of their service desks.

Buying a standard adult ticket for the Historic Trust is $12, while a child's ticket is $7.

Discounted tickets are available for $11 for servicemembers and their dependents, seniors 65 years or older, AAA members and UWF alumni. Discounted ticket purchases will require supporting documents during check-in at the Historic Trust’s service desks.

UWF students, SNAP/EBT card holders, Historic Trust members and children under 3 years old can get tickets to the Historic Trust for free.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: UWF Historic Trust and Historic Pensacola evolving with downtown area