Whitewashed Florida
With ‘Shelter at Home’ restrictions slowly easing here in the US, my family and I were fortunate to be able to travel to Florida for a week’s holiday at the beach. We’d heard that the 30A Scenic Highway on the ‘Panhandle of Florida’ (the North Western part of the State in Walton County) had beautiful white sandy beaches and turquoise water of the Gulf of Mexico; and it was also one of the closer beaches to Memphis (about 488 miles, or 785 kilometres). Perfect! We booked in a last minute trip and discovered that it was all of those things and more, and it was a wonderful family holiday for us that dearly missed the ocean.
But….
With the recent death of George Floyd, and the subsequent protests around the US (and the world) while we were there, my mind was often far from white sandy beaches. What I found myself thinking about, besides how beautiful the area was, was also how white it was, in every sense of the word. It was a world away from the protests and there was minimal evidence of COVID concern. It often felt like the town in the movie ‘Pleasantsville’. We only ended up booking this holiday because our trip to Australia was cancelled due to COVID, and we weren’t sure if a beach holiday was enough of an ‘American experience’ - coming from coastal Australia, we basically grew up at the beach. But in light of recent events, it became quite educational, and very much an American experience.
In this photo story, I take you on a journey of this stunning location, and offer a little history relevant to the current times.
Whilst not the main purpose of this post, I thought it worth mentioning that historically, the Walton County area where 30A exists, was first inhabited by Native Americans. According to the Visit South Walton website, ‘In the 1700s and 1800s, Native American tribes including the Muscogee, Creek and Euchee Indians lived in and around Walton County. Today, the Muscogee Nation of Florida is 1,100 members strong’.
‘‘For generations, the Muscogee people have strived to preserve their language, culture, songs, stories and way of life. Today, the Muscogee Nation of Walton County, located in the town of Bruce, seeks to share its heritage with residents and visitors alike. Upon further research, I was interested to learn that they have been battling since 1947 to be officially recognized as an Indian tribe. Efforts have thus far been unsuccessful. You can learn more about the group here. It’s an interesting read, and one that gives some insight into the lives of Native Americans in the US.
There’s no doubt the area is attractive to many Americans, for many different reasons. The white sandy beaches being just one of them. But what makes them so sugary white and squelchy under the toes? According to Geologist and South Walton local, Jerry Holditch, “It’s a perfect oval quartzite brought down the Apalachicola River from the Appalachian Mountains at the end of the last ice age. Our sand is quartz crystal, which is also known for its healing and soothing properties. It has been pulverized and washed down to this particular region over the millennia. Along the way, it gets broken down further by the waves and currents, and it combines with shell and fossil fragments to create countless shades of gorgeous stretching down the coastline”.
As I discovered at our local beach, Santa Rosa, it certainly was sugary white, squelchy, and gorgeous. This beach was a short walk from our accommodation, and it was stunning. There were also restaurants and ice cream shops close by, but it was the morning walks when the beach was quiet that I was attracted to the most. People would come down at sunrise to set their spot up for the day, go back home for a lie in or breaky, then head when down at their leisure.
We had one beach day that looked like this:
My kinda beach day!
Whilst the other days were a bit rougher, and meant the lime green algae (amazing in itself) was dispersed into the ocean, which made for some pretty slimy swimming!
Items were also ‘left’ on the beach in readiness for the next day.
Later in the week, as Tropical Storm Cristobal edged it’s way north towards the coast, there were some spectacular dramatic skies:
The towns along 30A are all gorgeous, in their own unique way. They’re connected by the highway, but also the Timpoochee Trail, a 19-mile multiuser path. We didn’t make it on the trail, but with so many beautiful state parks the trail goes through, it’s definitely on the list for the next visit, if there is one.
Our priority for the trip was beach and pool, so we only scratched the surface of the towns, but what we saw was impressive. Here is a snippet:
Grayton Beach seems to be where the it all started in 1911. Until 1980, there was apparently more dogs than people and the unofficial motto of the town is ‘Nice Dogs, Strange People’. It’s known as a creative haven for artists and musicians, and it has a rustic charm that adds to its soulful feel. Vehicles can drive on the beach (as seen in the photo at the top of this post), which reminded me a little of the South Australian beaches I grew up on. It was probably my favourite town of 30A.
Awarded one of ‘America’s Most Romantic Small Towns’ by CNN in 2015, Rosemary Beach is a planned ‘New Urbanism’ town, built in 1995. There’s winding paths, cobblestone streets, a boutique hotel, fine dining and shopping boutiques. It’s very nice, and I must admit, it’s the location where I’ve done the most shopping since I’ve been in the US - which wouldn’t be hard, as I generally don’t like going to the shops!
Further down the road is Seacrest, another planned community, and a biking haven. Here we enjoyed some delicious Mexican food, topped off with some good old fashioned lollies (or candy I should say). You could also get yourself a cheeky beer from the cute little ‘Peddlers Pub’.
Seaside was another planned resort community we called in for a visit. Founded in 1981, it was the forerunner of the New Urbanism movement. The official visitor guide for the area states ‘it’s known for its pastel colored beach houses, iconic whitewashed post office, and architect designed walkways leading to the sugar white sand. It’s a picture perfect town with irresistible charm’. With restaurants on the beach, Airstream trailers lining the Main Street selling tasty bites, and lots of young beautiful people wandering around, it certainly felt like utopia, but it made me wonder, utopia for who?
This New York Times article had an interesting take on the area. He talks of a place with no chain businesses of any kind, pristine streets with big pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, green spaces, multicolored houses and white picket fences, but also writes ‘After a while, Seaside actually verges on a feeling of too much perfection. And as you wander, marveling at how everyone walks and bikes here, just as the planners intended, most of your fellow pedestrians are also tourists, marveling right back at you'.
The houses all sparkle more than they would in a real town, because pretty much everything you see is available for seasonal rental. If it all seems a little like the set of ''The Truman Show,'' that might be because it was filmed here.’
Jim Carrey in ‘The Truman Show
WaterColour next door, developed in the early 2000s, is reminiscent of a mythical Mayberry Town. Urban Dictionary describes a Mayberry as ‘a small town that doesn't have that big city element, it can be suburbia, or is predominantly white, with low crime rates. Mayberry was a fictional small town that was featured in "The Andy Griffith Show" where almost all the residents are white with little or no minorities’. I think the designers succeeded in their plans.
But the piece de resistance of the area was Alys Beach, a luxurious dreamlike, Mediterranean inspired village with its palm-lined entry, whitewashed houses, and private club. The following from its website :
Upon the Florida Panhandle's pristine white sands and sparkling blue water, sits a seaside destination where life is refreshed. Where children find laughter, families find each other, and we discover the pure blessing of living. Through art and architecture, nature and design, community and tranquility, life is distilled down to what matters. This is Alys Beach.
From the moment you arrive, you will be transported to a place of simplicity and beauty. To a place where life is not just lived, it is defined.
All of Alys Beach’s 158 acres are within a short and pleasant walk of the beach, and all designed to be walkable, with easy access to the town center's many shops and restaurants.
“A place where urbanism, architecture, landscape, art, and green infrastructure all converged in a rarified atmosphere of controlled exuberance.” Galina Tachieva, Architect and Town Planner, Duany Plater-Zyberk
Are you sold yet?
The original vision of Alys Beach has its foundation in Moorish and Mediterranean flairs, with architectural styles founded in the beauty of Bermuda, and with courtyards inspired by homes in Antigua and Guatemala. A combination and experience you will have to see to believe.
I must admit, I was pretty amazed by this place. But is it all just a little too contrived and perfect?
I found this article interesting ‘Florida Panhandle's paradise lost 'New Urbanism' gone awry’. It’s written by Folwell Dunbar in 2017, a man who used to spend summers in the 1960s at the beach at Destin - the large town closest to 30A. He describes how Destin and the Gulf Coast surrounding it was also affectionately known as the ‘Redneck Riviera’, and how, as Destin became too crowded, they moved down to 30A, and he gives a brief history of how the area was developed.
He also writes: ‘This past summer, our family revisited its old stomping grounds for the first time in many years. We rented a home in Seagrove Beach, a Seaside clone just down the road from the original. The fine quartz sand still squeaked beneath our feet, and the water along the Emerald Coast was still, well, emerald green. After a couple of days roasting on the beach, we ventured over to Seaside. There was a long traffic jam leading into town, and we couldn’t find a place to park. Piles of bikes littered the communal lawn and day trippers from the surrounding communities packed the sidewalks and shops. Many of the quaint little houses, now second or third homes of wealthy residents from Atlanta, Houston and New Orleans, were rented out via VRBO or Airbnb. We felt like we were being trampled by Stepford wives. The idyllic planned community dreamed up by Davis and Duany had become a victim of its own success. It was Milton’s Paradise Lost.’
We were there in late May, which seems to be a perfect time. It was fairly comfortable, with minimal traffic jams, but with COVID restrictions in place at some restaurants, it was sometimes 1.5 hr wait for a table. We were told it it was quiet at the time, and that come July, you could hardly move, not like the image below:
The author’s father, George Dunbar, now 90, on a family vacation in Destin, Florida, circa 1965.
Icrecream brings back happy childhood memories for me, and there are certainly plenty of icrecream shops on 30A. The Blue Mountain Beach Creamery being the most famous, and I can vouch for the ‘Salted Caramel’ being pretty special. I don’t remember signs in my childhood telling me to stay one cow apart though!
On our final night, we headed into Destin for a dolphin tour. It was very different from 30A, with fast food outlets and souvenir shops galore, but the boat trip was wonderful, and there were dolphins aplenty.
We also saw a lot of big, white boats! The Americans love to display their flags, but I wondered, why is it that the flag seems to be more associated with Republicans than Democrats, or is it just a Trump thing? There seems to be a plethora or articles online discussing this, but one interesting article I found, written by Damon Young, in his words, ‘a writer, critic, humorist, satirist, and professional Black person’ writes about how he came to view the flag as an American threat. It’s an interesting read in today’s racially charged climate, particularly when you see flags like the one in the third image below, a flag that was on display just days after the death of George Floyd, but I guess that was the point.
It appears that Destin lives up to the areas reputation as the ‘Redneck Riviera’, and seems a world away from the beauty and pleasantness of 30A!
Despite the crowds and the sometimes vanilla feel of the planned townships along 30A, it’s still stunning, with fabulous amenities and much natural beauty to offer - and I can see why thousands of people flock there every summer.
I thought it apt that this rainbow cloud in the image above appeared in the sky while we were down the beach - something I had never seen before. In this historical time we are living through, it felt like a little sign that positive change is on its way. The dreamer in me is hoping that the world will become a much fairer place, where people of all colours are treated equally - part of my own utopian world I guess. We can all try to do our part, and listen, learn, and educate our children. But, I guess all we can really rely on, is that the sun will still come up in the morning, and set at night.
For further information on 30A visit:
https://www.visitsouthwalton.com
In my upcoming blog posts, I’ll continue with my ‘Abandoned Series’ where I explore some abandoned buildings around Memphis. And I’ll delve into terms like ‘Redlining’, ‘White Flight’, and ‘Food Deserts’ that help to understand some of the abandonment in the city.