History of South Walton, Florida

Walton County is composed of three municipalities: DeFuniak Springs, Paxton, and Freeport. Founded in 1880, DeFuniak Springs is today an ideal pedestrian village with historical buildings, tall mossy oaks, and displayed gingerbread homes. Paxton had the first sawmill in 1903 and has the highest point in the Florida, 345 feet above sea level. This plateau is now called Lakewood County Park. Freeport gets its name from the fact that, as a popular and successful shopping port, its imported goods were tax-free. As a whole, South Walton, Florida, has passed through the sands of time as a successful, industrial port, with sawmill logging, turpentine processing, pine gum harvesting and farming.