Santa Rosa Island is a 40-mile barrier island located in Florida, thirty miles from the Alabama state border. The village of Pensacola Beach is located on the island.

Parts of the island are in the Gulf Islands National Seashore .

History

The island was the first place where shots were fired to open the American Civil War, three months before the shelling of Fort Sumter, at the Battle of Santa Rosa Island .

In 1929, Santa Rosa Island was sold by the U.S. War Department to Escambia County, Florida, for $10,000. Ten years later, the county returned the island to the federal government in the expectation that it would be developed into a U.S. National Monument preserving the remnants of Fort Pickens.