South Walton Beaches

The earliest settlers of Walton County specialized in livestock: cattle and sheep. During the late 19th century and early 20th, lumber and naval supplies became important components of the local economy. Red Bay was established in the 1820s, and Freeport and Paxton were founded during the 1830s. Freeport, on the Choctawhatchee Bay, served as a commercial port transporting lumber, cattle, and naval supplies. Walton County's beaches remained quite unpopulated until the completion of the Clyde B. Wells Bridge in 1946, which spurred coastal growth.

Walton County's oldest beach community is Grayton Beach. Beginning in 1890, DeFuniak Springs and Chipley residents and their famililes started vacationing there. A beach patrol guard station was created in Grayton Beach in 1920; before that, horses patrolled the beaches. At that time, it has been said that a person could vacation on the pristine sand and encounter nobody. Seaside, established in 1981, set the standard for southern small-town living. Over the next 30 years, Walton County's beaches have grown a great deal, though with a population of just below 50,000, they still retain the quaintness and charm of their early days.