The Beach Communities of South Walton

Santa Rosa • Blue Mountain • Grayton • Seaside • Seagrove • Seacrest • Dune Allen

Running both north and south of Emerald Coast Parkway, the city of Santa Rosa encompasses the most land of all the beach communities. Here, you'll find several entrances to Point Washington State Forest, a 15,000-acre preserve with more than 10 miles of trails. In the historic town of Point Washington, Eden State Gardens features the old Wesley mansion on Tucker Bayou, once a thriving sawmill. Topsail Hill State Preserve is arguably the state's most pristine piece of property; its beach, dunes, coastal lake and cypress swamp remain nearly untouched since the time the first Europeans landed here five centuries ago.

"Mountain" is somewhat of a misnomer for land that's only 345 feet above sea level at its highest point, but the first European settlers may have mistaken the towering dunes for mountains after being at sea for months! They may also have been impressed by the lush vegetation covering the dunes, especially the spiky Gulf Coast lupine, which lives in the dune scrub and exists in only eight coastal counties in Florida's Panhandle. According to old Indian legend, its fuzzy blue leaves and purplish-blue flowers (which look like tiny sweet peas) blanket the hills and cause the blue haze one sees at dawn — and to the Indians, looked like blue mountains on the beach.

The area has remained virtually unspoiled. Mysterious Draper Lake is a large, expansive body of water with no public access. Lily pads float in the marshes of Alligator and Big Red Fish Lakes, two smaller dune lakes set amid windswept oak and pine trees, but no alligators or big red fish likely live here, despite the names.

Blue Mountain beach also marks the beginning of the Eastern Lake Hike/Bike Trail, which ambles through the rest of South Walton's beach communities. Take it slow and enjoy the trip past coastal lakes, dense woodlands and architecturally stunning communities.

Here in this delightfully quirky Old Florida town, people are known to develop their eccentricities into art. You'll find treasure troves of unique items along moss-draped lanes and picket-fenced yards. And only in a town whose motto is "Great dogs, weird people" will you see a large wall upon which local artists have painted portraits of local dogs past and present.

The beach is a vast expanse of white crystalline sand and stretches as far as the eye can see. Birds and other wildlife flock to this area, which is also laced with rare coastal dune lakes and estuaries.

This >50,000-sq-ft community is often cited as the first New Urbanist development. At the time of Seaside's construction, Walton County had no zoning ordinance, leaving Seaside's founders able to plan with a relatively free hand. In the absence of these regulations (e.g., minimum lot size, separation of uses), Duany and Plater-Zyberk (DPZ) were able to design a mixed-use development with densities greater than allowed in conventional suburban development.

Here, you'll enjoy unique shops, galleries and eateries in the town center, as well as striking architecture and, of course, a beautiful beach.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Seagrove Beach was known as Russ’s Hammock. Back then, one could get here by taking a small road from the north by way of Point Washington, a nearby timber mill town on the bayous of Choctawatchee Bay. One of the few original property owners to settle here was the McGee family in 1949.

Since then, this picturesque neighborhood has come to be known by its present name, owing to the thick groves of windswept oak trees along the beach that shelter the area from storms and hurricanes.

After a sweeping bend, Scenic Highway 30-A follows the Gulf through areas with an up-close view of just how wild and dense coastal scrub can get. Suddenly, rising out of the dunes, is the residential community of Seacrest. The area is home to Camp Creek Lake, as well as a golf club dotted with marshlands — a perfect setting for wading birds, more than 200 live oaks, and challenging links.

Dune Allen is the western-most beach town on Scenic 30-A. It is also home to Butler Elementary School and Kindness Pet Hospital, 30-A's first veterinary clinic. Dune Allen is mainly residential with beachfront vacation homes in the dunes lining both sides of the road.

Stallworth Lake is in Dune Allen and is one of many beautiful dune lakes that you will see on Scenic 30-A. This lake is of historical importance because of a housing area called the Quarters. It was located on the northeast side of the lake and housed the so called, "Turpentine Workers." This was during the late 1800s, and jobs and places to live were very scarce in this part of the country. The Quarters offered both. It also laid the foundation for a totally integrated society in North Florida. It may have been the earliest interracial neighborhood in this State where blacks and whites lived and worked together in perfect harmony.