Gulf Islands National Seashore has traveling trunks for local elementary and middle school students. The trunks include a curriculum-based (Florida Sunshine State Curriculum Standards) lesson guide, reference resources and hands on materials.

Trunks are free to use and are on a first-come, first-serve basis and limited to one week during heavy school visitations to the park but can be extended to two weeks when requests are low. 

Please contact Educational Specialist, Amanda Carrigan-Grissom
at 850-916-3001 or e-mail, e-mail us

Life as a Civil War Soldier Traveling Trunks     NEW TRUNK

The anniversary of the American Civil War is upon us this year. Teach your children the involvement Pensacola had during the Civil War by using a hand's on approach to the subject. Perspective of a soldier's life during the civil war is taught through hands on activities where teachers set up in six stations in the classroom. Trunks include uniforms and military items, pastime activities, historic photographs, literature, music and how women and children were involved. The curriculum and materials are adaptable in grades 4th - 8th.  

Coastal Critters (ecosystems of a barrier island) 

Students will have the opportunity to discover about Gulf Islands National Seashores many habitats on land, and under the water.

Grades 3rd - 5th

Seafaring Sailor (colonial maritime history) 

A "sailor's" trunk filled with his belongings has been recovered off the Gulf Coast, possibly from the Don Tristan de Luna expedition to Pensacola, Florida in 1559. The task is to determine what period of time the trunk is from, what the trunk contents are, how the trunk contents were used, and which member of the ship's crew is most likely to have been the owner. Recommend use of the scientific method to enhance research and thinking skills.

Through the clothing, tools, maps and other objects in a sailor's trunk, the day to day life aboard a wooden sailing ship of the late 1500's can be reconstructed.

Grades 4th - 8th