Grayton Beach State Park was opened in 1968. Its consistently claimed to be one of the best beaches in Florida.
Grayton State Beach
We were not that impressed with the maintenance of Grayton State Park because of a serious lack of tree trimming. There are 2 loops. One for bigger rigs (well cleared for slide outs and 13 ft. heights) and one for smaller RVs and tents. They put us in the smaller site, even though we had reservations for a larger site, but someone else was in it. We decided to try it because there was another tall RV there and we had no other options. Our site was badly overgrown. Staff would not come out to trim the trees. We pushed tree branches and debris out of the way. Even then, we had to use the neighbors site to maneuver into ours. After a few scratches, we finally backed into it. While pushing branches out of the way, Michael fell onto his back, right wrist, and hit his head. He sprained his right wrist and fractured a few ribs. Hopefully just sprains and not a TFCC tear. Eventually the staff finally trimmed around our motorhome.
We never made it to the beach because of Michael’s injuries. Dogs are not allowed and its about a mile walk one way. The site only had 30 amp power, water, and no sewer.
We drove to Panama Beach…large soft sand beaches that go on forever. Dogs not allowed here either.
The communities of Watercolor and Seaside are fun and adorable. They are unincorporated, master-planned communities, and designed on principles of New Urbanism (movement started in the 1980’s which promotes environmentally friendly habitats by creating walkable neighborhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types). Seaside is privately owned, the municipal government does not have jurisdiction over Seaside, and therefore the developers were able to write their own zoning codes. Both are close to Grayton.
Design styles range from Victorian, Neoclassical, Modern, Postmodern, and Deconstructionism are words used to describe the housing. Some commercial areas feel European with store fronts on the street level and housing above. There are numerous food trucks, open spaces, shops, beach access, restaurants and bars. Sandy was in paradise.
Later we had a glass of wine, soup and a salad at The Pearl in Rosemary Beach. It was opened about 3-4 years ago. Really enjoyed the atmosphere and numerous places to hang out near Grayton State Beach.
We really enjoyed Grayton and the surrounding communities and could easily live there.
