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Innerarity, FL; a Town Profile for Travelers
MDAG Submission #122A
Innerarity, Florida Entry #1
By: Harry D. Wardell, Researching Journalist
Innerarity, Florida
Population: 500ish
Elevation: Coastal
Innerarity is nestled on the shores of the Perdido Sound, just inland of the Gulf of Mexico, near the city of Pensacola. It is a small, coastal town with only a few buildings along an un-crowded Main Street. This is a great vacation spot that is unfortunately (albeit, understandably) overlooked by virtually every tourist that visits Florida. The area known as ‘Innerarity Point’ is just off State Route 292, the primary roadway between Pensacola and Gulf Shores. Just before reaching the gulf, travelers will approach the Perdido Pass Bridge, which offers a stunning view of the Gulf of Mexico. There is a small road right before that bridge, which cuts off to the right, and is the only access road to Innerarity. With the Gulf Coast in full view, travelers usually pass by the nondescript road to Innerarity and forget they’d ever seen it, if they ever saw it in the first place. For those few who manage to discover Innerarity, the experience is one unlike any other city or town on the Gulf Coast. Innerarity has an old-South charm, but with a coastal ambiance. It’s got Spanish moss-draped live oaks, an antebellum mansion, and a white-sand beach with palm trees to boot.
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Main Street is lined on one side with six buildings, all connected in a chain and all of pre-1925 architecture. Down the median of Main Street there are rows of live oak trees that presumably predate the town itself. The scene can be quite dramatic and the effect of Spanish moss drooping down to the pavement only heightens the drama. Among the buildings are assorted markets, a grocer, the Along the Way Café, and a low-power radio station on the AM band (WGPR Gulf Pirate Radio—“We’ve Taken the Airwaves!”) which specializes in local happenings, news, and obscure island music. Across Main Street from the buildings there is a large park, with huge live oaks scattered through it, draped with the usual compliment of Spanish moss. There is one bed and breakfast, the Innerarity Key B & B, housed in the only antebellum structure in town (and one of the only ones on the entire Gulf Coast of Florida), a Florida summerhouse with a large, pillared front porch that sits on the opposite side of the park from the town’s businesses.
The only other town feature is concealed even more than the town itself. Blue Latitudes is located past the row of buildings and the park, along a short access road that winds down to the water and back around to the rear of the town’s buildings, at the cusp of the Innerarity Swamp Preserve. There, visitors will find a not-so-bustling dock with two shrimping boats, one of the finest fresh seafood markets in Florida, and the oyster bar Blue Latitudes itself, which rests partly on the dock and partly on land. Usually only locals show up, but Pensacola and Gulf Shores are aware of its existence and every now and then will send a host of patrons as tourists fill their own bars to capacity.
For a quiet excursion to Florida, Innerarity receives our highest mark.
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