Grayton Beach

Grayton Beach is the first beach community established in South Walton, sometime in the late 19th century. If you walk down one of Grayton Beach’s oyster-shell roads, you get the feeling things don’t change very fast here.

Pine and oak trees surround the natural, old wooden cottages. Here and there larger and more modern house tower over the old shotgun shacks. Grayton Beach celebrated its 120th anniversary July 4th, 2010. The town has been able to maintain the cozy character with narrow tree-lined streets and friendly people – with funky art galleries, antique and specialty shops, a general store, and the infamous Red Bar.

The most popular indoor destination in Grayton Beach, the Red Bar is a favorite for fun with friends and family while taking in the eclectic decor, listening to great live music and enjoying great food and cocktails.

Grayton Beach is well known for the incomparable natural beauty of Grayton Beach State Park, which spans the Gulf of Mexico and most of Western Lake. Enjoy a charming cabin or bring your own RV or tent for a beach camping adventure.

The Grayton Beach dune trail is one of the most scenic in the area, circling sand dunes, skirting the coastal dune lake, and cutting right through a dense scrub hammock. With the public dock on scenic Western Lake, kayaking or canoeing offers great exploring opportunities.

Grayton Beach had its beginnings when an Army major, Charles T. Gray, built a homestead here about 1885, according to the telling of the village’s history by the Coastal Heritage Preservation Foundation. At the time, the federal government owned much of the land and a few people had reason to settle here. The soil was too sandy to farm and there were better timberlands inland.

Political and natural barriers have kept Grayton Beach a village. What few efforts there have been to build large condominium projects here have met with furious opposition from the community’s residents. Natural barriers to large-scale development in the quarter-mile-square community are lakes to its east and west and the Gulf of Mexico to the south.

Read more about the history of Grayton Beach.