Mulat, Florida

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Mulat, Florida is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Santa Rosa County, part of the Pensacola metro area. As of 2020, it had 322 residents. The area covers about 1.68 square miles, mostly land, and sits about 10 feet above sea level. It uses ZIP code 32583 and area code 850 and is in the Central Time Zone.

Mulat is one of the oldest settlements in the county. Native peoples lived here as far back as the 4th century. The first European settler was Beltran Suchet, who lived by Mulatto Bayou (then called the Governor’s River) in 1818. The name Mulat comes from Suchet’s family.

In the 19th century Mulat grew with a shipyard on Mulatto Bayou, a sawmill, a ferry to Ferry Pass (begun in 1854), and a road to Arcadia Mill. A steam-powered sawmill appeared before the Civil War, and the town was burned by Confederates in 1862, after which it never fully recovered. A new mill was built in 1877, and a trestle bridge connected Mulat to neighboring counties in 1882. A post office operated from 1892 to 1953. In the early 20th century the area also had a turpentine mill, and the McMillan family moved there in 1938; one member later helped children in Hiroshima after World War II.