History

Visiting Eden Gardens State Park is tuning out the rest of the world and tuning in the “Real Florida”.

Trade in your worries and turn on to the splendor of SoWal's great outdoors, with some Florida history to boot. Just a bit north of the beach, Eden Gardens State Park is nestled in the woods of Point Washington, along the shores of Tucker Bayou and the Choctawhatchee Bay. It's the ideal spot to relax and have family fun.

On the east side of South Walton just east of Inlet Beach, turn off Highway 98 and through the gate of Camp Helen State Park and be amazed how fast you go from freeway frenzy to total tranquility.

In the grand scheme of things, Destin is a young city - both physically and at heart. In fact, Destin didn’t officially become a municipality until 1984. Just prior to that, the first condominiums began to rise from Destin's sandy shores. Today, it’s hard to imagine the intimate piece of paradise unadorned by its prestigious tourism industry.

For most of its life, our western neighbor Destin was known simply for fabulous fishing and amazing beaches. Before the renown, Destin was a simple place, and traces of its heritage can still be experienced first hand.

This photo is from July 4th 1979 at the start of the annual parade with ten Jeeps decked out with flags lining up on Hickory Street in Seagrove. The blue Jeep is owned by the woman in the blue bathing suit in the foreground who is Janie Soloman (Marie and Jane’s mom).

I love this photo and have a big copy of it on my wall. It's our old friend Maunsel White and two of his friends on the docks in Destin back in the sixties sometime.

- Payson Comer Howard

Photo from the family archive of Payson Comer Howard Payson and crew are based in Seagrove Beach, offering vacaiton rentals and services every day all along SoWal Beaches to help you make your own vacation memories at Sunburst Beach Vacations - It's Time To Vacation!

In 1958 there was only one house resting on the south side of Scenic 30A on Dune Allen Beach - only one. Bo Rentrop and her late husband Billy Rentrop were there, and Bo remembers that single house very well.

The South Walton Community Council (SWCC) is pleased to host author Hardy Jackson and Sundog Books at its next public forum. Hardy will trace the development of the Florida-Alabama coast, or the “Redneck Riviera” as a tourist destination from the late 1920s when 30A was sparsely populated with small villages through the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. Jackson will discuss his book, The Rise and Fall of the Redneck Riviera, and focus on the history of C. R.