so where exactly is santa rosa beach?
the so-called town of santa rosa beach florida can be a little tough to pinpoint even for locals
who have called this place home for years but if you've ever been on scenic highway 30a in
walton county florida well you've already been to santa rosa beach whether you knew it or not
in fact santa rosa beach encompasses many of the coastal communities you already know and
love so well seaside grayton beach dune allen watercolor if you've ever been to any of these
wonderful places you can go ahead and scratch santa rosa beach off your bucket list too
okay we all know about seagrove we all know about blue mountain beach but again
where exactly where is downtown santa rosa beach well there isn't one
not anymore at least pinched between sandestin resort to the west panama city beach to the east
the beautiful choctawhatchee bay to the north and the gulf of mexico to the south
santa rosa beach's technically defined by the perimeter of the postal zip code 32459
before the first 331 drawbridge came along in 1940 this island wannabe was a pretty difficult place
to reach with fairies paddle boats and steamers bringing the first settlers here around 1910
that's when a man from chicago named charles cessna came here on his honeymoon
shortly after presumably falling in love with his new bride cessna also fell in love with this place
charles had a vision he wanted to start a new town where the primary industry was sugarcane
he tempted immigrant workers here with ads in the chicago tribune promising the american dream
with a tropical twist he attracted swedes irishmen germans scots and so-called crackers
a term that was given to the turpentine and timber workers who were already here
in all honesty that charles cessna almost was a flim flam
it was he was telling these immigrants getting off the boats in new york boston
come to florida i have this thing you'll get one house lot and you'll get 10 acres of land 20 acres
of land every houseblock you by and that's why it goes all the way to sam dustin and they bought
into it you know it was an american dream you know but the first settlers certainly didn't migrate
here for our famous florida sunshine they didn't even come to the beach they came to hogtown bayou
most of them came here to harvest sugarcane and a few of them came to escape justice
it became sort of like the wild west syndrome because pensacola was settled
and if somebody got in trouble they headed this way to high the sheriff from de funiak would have
to climb all the way down here and it was on a mule at the time or in a wagon and that's a good
four-hour trip from down there and he'd have to stay in the hotel and by the time
he went out to try to find this guy that was wanted it was long gone
the tiny town of santa rosa was home to nearly 1200 residents complete with stores two hotels
churches a post office a school an ice house a lumber mill two turpentine stills and a sugar
cane syrup factory pretty much everything you needed to establish an idyllic tropical paradise
but life here was hardly a day on the beach the hardship at this period was not so much
the climate because they weren't used to air conditioning much less had very little
electricity the hardship was the bug problem from what i've read and they would have to use muslim
over the winters at night which enclosed the heat more so uh they had to sleep in muslim and
the men's the crackers were so tough they could sleep anywhere outside they were just a breed
amongst themselves but the immigrants were not used to this type of climate when they came here
in 1915 the little town was obliterated by a hurricane which ripped apart her buildings
farms and families there were no weather alerts no push notifications no projected paths or cones
no warning whatsoever throw in a bout of yellow fever a little citrus canker to destroy the local
orange trees and another devastating hurricane in 1926 and well anyone who was left by that point
pretty much threw in the old beach towel the thick skinned pioneers who had called this place home
really didn't have any other choice but to move elsewhere
effectively rendering santa rosa beach a ghost town and yet a few resilient residents remained
they weren't able to salvage the town but they did dig through the wreckage for scrap lumber
some of which still supports the old bridge across hogtown bayou today
today santa rosa beach is no longer fueled by sugar cane or cattle or oystering or even fishing
we mostly do that stuff for fun now instead santa rosa beach's booming economy is fueled
by tourism and highly sought after slivers of real estate precious land that you could
hardly give away just a few years ago at one time living here was an incredible hardship
it was a daily struggle simply to survive for so many it was a death sentence i wonder what those
ghosts of our pioneering past would think about life here in santa rosa beach today
here's hoping they're finally having their day on the beach