What's the difference between Santa Rosa Beach and Seagrove Beach?

[Creeklover]

WHen will people learn that the ZIP Code has nothing to do with the community or city. If it did walton county would have 30-40 Zip Codes. In this it would only cost more and the postage would go up even more. (I belive it is still to cheep)

I bet thought that if you lived in Seagrove and put your address and Seargove Fl. 32439 on a letter you would receive it.

A postal friend told me that it did not matter about the city listed they deliver to the Zip Code unless the Zip is wrong then they look up the zip by the city and state listed on the letter.

 

[DuneLaker]

my zip at Seaside PO is 32459.

Thanks for correction John R. I should have just said Seaside has a PO. I guess this helps you use the name "Seaside" along with the PO Box No. and thus the official blessings of the US Post Office. Whereas, I sometimes put Eastern Lake, Fl 32459 as my address on some personal mail. Until I have a summit with a former post office master (who lives right here in Walton County), I'll probably just cringe and use Santa Rosa Beach on my official mail.

 

[TreeFrog]

Thanks for correction John R. I should have just said Seaside has a PO. I guess this helps you use the name "Seaside" along with the PO Box No. and thus the official blessings of the US Post Office. Whereas, I sometimes put Eastern Lake, Fl 32459 as my address on some personal mail. Until I have a summit with a former post office master (who lives right here in Walton County), I'll probably just cringe and use Santa Rosa Beach on my official mail.

and the Rosemary Beach post office has its own zip, too. 32461. This sometimes causes problems with computer zip code verifier routines, because it seems that 32461 used to belong to Sunnyside in PCB.

 

[NotDeadYet]

I bet thought that if you lived in Seagrove and put your address and Seargove Fl. 32439 on a letter you would receive it.

A postal friend told me that it did not matter about the city listed they deliver to the Zip Code unless the Zip is wrong then they look up the zip by the city and state listed on the letter.

This is correct. Quite a few people in Seagrove use it in their address with the 32459 zip and the mail does get delivered. The problem can come though with the list they use to look up the city and state on the letter if the zip is wrong or illegible. If "Eastern Lake" is not on the list and the zip code is illegible then the letter probably won't be delivered.
It is not just in SoWal that the zips don't reflect the actual locations. The zip tells you which post office delivers your mail. I know people living up on Rock Hill Road with Ponce de Leon addresses, because that is where their mail comes through. Likewise Choctaw Beach has Freeport addresses. And the reason the east end of 30A has a Panama City Beach address and zip is because that is the post office that delivers there.
County lines do not always coincide with zip code boundaries, which only adds to the confusion. But obviously there is confusion beyond the zip codes. Like that USA Today article on SoWal with the picture of Destin beaches.
Many people are geographically challenged. Perhaps a good place to start would be in the schools. Now that Google has mapped virtually everywhere a new set of skills could be taught.
(Yesterday I looked up the address of someone I know in DC. I wanted to see just how far exactly her house is from the inauguration location, and up popped a picture of her house!)

 

[beachmouse]

And when we first moved to our house in 2001, we'd still get junk mail that had a rural route number, even though my area's textbook suburbia as well as misrouted Choctaw Beach mail that had a Niceville address.

At least a number of SoWal beaches have their own highway signs. FDOT still calls everything between the Meigs and Mid-Bay bridges and the county line 'Seminole' even though that only really describes about 5% of the homes in the area.

 

[Smiling JOe]

We prefer Seagrove just because it's in the middle of the 30A corridor. So you are close to to the more popular areas and restaurants in Grayton (love it), Seaside, and Rosemary, as well as in Seagrove. If you like Destin and its chain restaurants, chain retail stores, Santa Rosa Beach is closer to those, but a long drive (relatively speaking) to the heart of 30A. And most people have those chains at home, so they want a

The question came up on this board a while back -- "Where is the center of 30A?" I researched it and it appears that the center of 30A (east to west) is around the stop sign at WaterColor. If that is true, Blue Mtn Beach area is no farther from Grayton Beach than Seagrove is from Grayton Beach. Just wanted to try and clarify for those who don't know.

 

[DuneLaker]

We prefer Seagrove just because it's in the middle of the 30A corridor. So you are close to to the more popular areas and restaurants in Grayton (love it), Seaside, and Rosemary, as well as in Seagrove. If you like Destin and its chain restaurants, chain retail stores, Santa Rosa Beach is closer to those, but a long drive (relatively speaking) to the heart of 30A. And most people have those chains at home, so they want a

The question came up on this board a while back -- "Where is the center of 30A?" I researched it and it appears that the center of 30A (east to west) is around the stop sign at WaterColor. If that is true, Gulf Place is no farther from Grayton Beach than Seagrove is from Grayton Beach. Just wanted to try and clarify for those who don't know.

Was this measurement from say Miss Lucille's Gossip Parlor on 30A at Gulf Place to Grayton; and the Village Market on 395/30A in Old Seagrove to Grayton? Thanks for the center point. That is fun and useful to know. It may help define for some the "difference" between one place or another - or not. ;-)

 

[Smiling JOe]

Was this measurement from say Miss Lucille's Gossip Parlor on 30A at Gulf Place to Grayton; and the Village Market on 395/30A in Old Seagrove to Grayton? Thanks for the center point. That is fun and useful to know. It may help define for some the "difference" between one place or another - or not. ;-)

measurements by road:
From Hwy 83 (Blue Mtn Beach) to Hwy 283 (Grayton) -- 11,000ft
From Hwy 393 (Gulf Place) to Hwy 283 (Grayton) -- 4.3 miles

From Hwy 395 (Seagrove Market) to Hwy 283 (Grayton) -- 14,500 ft
From Flip Flops (Eastern Lake area of Seagrove) to Hwy 283 (Grayton) -- 4.4 miles

There really isn't much difference as far as proximity to the center of 30A, and being able to quickly jump onto Hwy 98, with only a couple of extra traffic signals, there won't be much difference in time when traveling to Panama City Beach from either locations.

********
I did read someone write that the area between Blue Mtn Beach and Gulf Place was rather quiet with uncrowded beaches. For the most part, I agree with that statement, with the exception being that beach from Hwy 83 to The Retreat. In the peak season, that particular stretch has been shoulder to shoulder, literally, mostly due to the "private beach" issues with their fun-loving neighbors.

 

[Beach Runner]

Was this measurement from say Miss Lucille's Gossip Parlor on 30A at Gulf Place to Grayton; and the Village Market on 395/30A in Old Seagrove to Grayton? Thanks for the center point. That is fun and useful to know. It may help define for some the "difference" between one place or another - or not. ;-)

I wasn't talking about the center in terms of half the distance between the two ends of the highway. I'm just going by what a friend who has a home in Santa Rosa Beach says. He is tired of driving so far to go to restaurants, shop, etc., on 30A and thus has his house on the market. He doesn't like Sandestin/Destin. He wants to be in Seagrove so that he'd be closer to the centers of activity, Grayton, Seaside, and Rosemary, as well as what Seagrove has to offer.

But then on the other had I have other friends who have homes in SRB. They don't shop a lot, dine out are lot, and are happy hanging out at Stinky's (which is a place I recommend). Different strokes for different folks. It's all good down here.

 

[Lake View Too]

Center?

If you think about it historically, wherever the first settlers discovered, and started to name things in this area, they came up with "Eastern Lake" and "Western Lake". Therefore Seagrove was likely the first "settlement" and therefore, I vote for it to be considered the "center". Try to imagine what this land was like before 30-A was completed in the 60's. There were a series of small roads coming from 98 which simply dead-ended into each "town". One into Seagrove. One into Grayton. One into Dune Allen. It was a day-long excursion to go from Inlet Beach to Jack Tarr Motel (anyone remember?)and back.