If other spots on Scenic Highway 30A are pastel and linen, Grayton Beach is rough-sawn and burlap. Artists and fishermen, retirees and surfers, populate a clutch of mostly modest clapboard and brick houses crowding a tangle of sand-and-shell lanes. Insulated by the Grayton Beach State Park to the east and west, Point Washington State Forest to the north, and the Gulf to the south, this village (about 30 minutes east of Destin) relies on self-sufficiency and old-fashioned logic.
For example, newcomers are aghast that permit-carrying locals drive on the sparkling white beach. For Graytonites, the reasons are obvious: Not only is it their inalienable right to assemble for sunset tailgate cocktails, but anglers need a spot to launch their boats. “We’re not just laid-back,” says one local. “We’re lying down.”
