Government

Our little road on the SoWal Coast along the world's most beautiful beaches has gained national notoriety as the newest scenic drive in the National Scenic Byways Program.

Grayton Beach State Park has showcased the best natural environment South Walton has to offer for nearly 50 years. 

The park encompasses 2,200 acres of pristine rolling dunes along the Gulf and Western Lake, and a magnificent coastal forest habitat with unusual scrub oaks and magnolias twisted by winds and time. Western Lake is the centerpiece of the park, one of our rare, freshwater coastal dune lakes.

Walton County began the process of developing a paddle trail initiative on the Choctawhatchee River beginning in 2011. Former Walton County Board Member Scott Brannon led the movement towards the application for grant funds to develop the Blueway Paddle Trail. Unfortunately, Walton County was not awarded funding at that time.

The Walton County Hurricane & Storm Damage Reduction Project, also known as the federal beach nourishment project, is in the third phase- the Preliminary, Engineering, and Design Phase (PED). The PED phase includes the all of the steps necessary to prepare the project for the next phase- Construction. Currently, surveyors hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are surveying all five of the project reaches. Almost half of the surveying is complete and we anticipate the final survey work to be completed in October.

The Souh Walton Tourist Development Council (TDC) has named MC and Stella Davis as its 2012 Van Ness Butler Hospitality Award recipients. This award was first presented to Van Ness Butler Jr. in honor of his visionary leadership and the continuation of his family's legacy in making South Walton a premier tourist destination.

Walton County takes matters into its own hands…

It now seems like a lifetime ago.

The news was bad and utterly unexpected.  In late April, a few days after the Deepwater Horizon rig sank, Walton County officials were told that “in 72 hours our beaches would look like a paved parking lot,” recalled Captain Mike Barker of the Walton County Sheriff’s Office.