Seaside Town centered, walkable, and social / local business promoting
If you’ve been here you know that the combination of South Walton County’s beaches and lifestyle is in a league of it’s own. It is for that reason that the Scenic 30A corridor has been a regionally famous, and obvious favorite, coastal vacation destination for nearly 3/4 of a century. However it wasn’t until 1985 that the ‘harbinger of what was to come’ hit the scene launching South Walton County Florida into being recognized as a coastal vacation destination GLOBALLY. Enter Seaside, Florida.
Seaside— located along CR 30A between Seagrove Beach and Watercolor— was the bold first of three New Urbanism planned communities (Alys Beach, Rosemary Beach and Seaside) designed by the sheer genius of Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. While much more complex than will be covered here, the driving fundamental idea behind New Urbanism is to create communities in such a way that they are town centered, walkable, and social / local business promoting—doing so by placing great intention and strategy to that end in EVERY aspect and detail of the design. Segue forward a couple years from 1985 and on through to today, I think it’s fair to say that Duany and Plater-Zyberk nailed it. They not only shaped the community they had envisioned but also in many ways, by ripple effect, shaped and paved the way for many aspects of South Walton culture and development as we know and see it today.
Early on in the gradual development of Seaside there was an emphasis on a combination of victorian and southern vernacular architectural traits along with a pastel color palette intended to emulate our beloved and world-class South Walton sunsets. As Seaside’s town center grew and more homes were built, allowances for more modern design influences were allowed that would strategically compliment the existing homes and original vision. The end result… the Seaside we all enjoy today… is nothing shy of brilliant.
The allure of the staggeringly diverse and lengthy list of retail, grocery, refreshment and dining options found in Seaside’s town center is evident by visiting there on any given day. From boutique and fine dining and wares, to a farmers market, and a record store —and virtually everything in between— it is very clear that Seaside Florida has left no facet of it’s global adoration wanting.
If you have an interest in Seaside Florida real estate know that we have been here since before town founder Robert Davis had the first road bush hogged and that we’d be honored to help you.