In the spring of 1818, the Euchee Chief Sam Story, who was on a traveling visit to Pensacola, invited Nell McLennan and Daniel D. Campbell to join him. This was the start of a migration of emigrants of Scottish decent from the Carolinas. The original settlement was at Eucheeanna near Bruce Creek. This was the Walton County seat from 1828 until 1890, when the seat was moved to its current location of DeFuniak Springs.
With its location on Choctawhatchee Bay, Freeport was founded in the 1830s as a port for commerce, cattle, lumber and naval stores. Red Bay was also founded in the 1820s, Paxton in the 1830s. While the beach area had limited population, the construction of the Clyde B. Wells Bridge over the Bay in 1946 facilitated growth along the coast.
The County's early settlers were stockmen working sheep and cattle. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, naval stores and timber played an important part in the county's economy.
Walton County boasts the highest point in the state of Florida at 345 feet above sea level near Lakewood. It also is home to the oldest library in the state in its original building in DeFuniak Springs, the state's oldest organized Presbyterian Church, which was founded on May 27, 1827. It also has the first confederate war memorial monument to honor those from the county who fell in the Civil War. The memorial was first located in Eucheeanna at the Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church; in the 1890s it was moved to its present location on the court house grounds in DeFuniak Springs.
Grayton beach is the oldest of all Walton County's Beach Communities. From as early as the 1890s, families from DeFuniak Springs and Chipley began making Grayton Beach their vacation destination. In 1920, Grayton Beach became a guard station for beach patrol, at that time the pristine beaches were patrolled by horses. It is said that in those days one could spend days on the untouched beaches with little to no human contact. In 1981, Seaside became the symbol for small town southern living. Since then the beach communities of Walton County have seen much growth and development, with a total population just under 50,000, yet they manage to maintain their original charm and quaintness of the area.
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