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[[Image:PlazaFerdinandVII.jpg|left|thumb|Plaza Ferdinand VII as seen from [[Government Street]]]]'''Plaza Ferdinand VII''' is an outdoor garden and park in the [[Historic Pensacola Village|Pensacola historic district]]. It is located on [[Palafox Street]] between [[Government Street|Government]] and [[Zaragossa Street|Zaragossa]] Streets. It was named after [[Wikipedia:Ferdinand VII of Spain|King Ferdinand VII of Spain]]. The park is dominated by three main features: a fountain (at the north end), an obelisk dedicated to [[William Dudley Chipley]] (center), and a bust of [[Andrew Jackson]] (south end).
The land on which the park sits was originally awarded by the Spanish throne to [[Don Manuel Gonzalez]] for his service. Gonzalez later donated the land to the City of Pensacola.
==Historical significance==
The cession of Florida to the United States from Spain occurred at the Plaza on [[July 17]], [[1821]]. General [[Andrew Jackson]] made a public speech to townspeople, informing them that the land was now the Florida Territory, 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 listed for consideration on the National Register of Historic Places in [[1960]], achieving the status of Historic Place in [[1966]]. Archaeologists, in [[2002]], discovered evidence of British structures previously not known to have existed in that area.
[[Category:Parks]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places]]
