SEASIDE | FLORIDA
“TO ESCAPE AND SIT QUIETLY ON THE BEACH—THAT’S MY IDEA OF PARADISE.”—EMILIA WICKSTEAD Story by Lyda Kay Ferree, The Southern Lifestyles Lady Photography Courtesy of Kurt Lischka and Moon Creek Studios Seaside, Florida…How I wish I were there now, and I suspect many of our readers share my desire to be sitting on the beach watching the waves roll in. The name Seaside conjures up images of pleasant breezes, sunshine, water, and pastel houses with picket fences. The last several months have been challenging ones for all of us as the COVID-19 virus changed our lives. A short while ago, many of us had not even heard of this virus. Just as our lives changed, so has the landscape of Seaside, which did not escape the virus shutdowns but now is again attracting visitors to its lovely destination. Seaside, about an eight hour drive from Clarksville, Tennessee, is a perfect summer getaway. Built on 80 acres on Northwest Florida’s Gulf Coast, the village is located on South Walton County’s Highway 30-A. Acclaimed world-wide as the birthplace of New Urbanism, Seaside offers a thriving town center with shopping and dining all within walking distance to homes, cottages, and offices. Consisting of more than 475 cottages, many of them vacation rentals, the community has about 20 restaurants and eateries and over 40 shops, galleries, and services.
ACCOLADES FOR SEASIDE Seaside was named “2015 Best Family Beach” in the Travel Channel’s Best Beach Awards 2015 and was featured on the Cooking Channel’s Emeril’s Florida, was named the “Best Beach on Earth” for families by “Travel+Leisure” Magazine and included in USA Today’s “Top 10 Best Beach Towns in Florida” in 2013 by “Dr. Beach.” The holiday town was also the primary filming location of the classic movie “The Truman Show.” Recent accolades for Seaside include “Architectural Digest” naming Seaside one of the most visually stunning locales in America. It has also been named Florida’s Best Christmas Town and one of the top 10 places to live in South Walton, Florida. “There is nothing else like it in all of Northwest Florida,” said Kerri Parker, who has lived in Seaside since 1997.
HISTORY OF SEASIDE, FLORIDA The concept of Seaside came in 1946 when the grandfather of future founder Robert S. Davis bought 80 acres of land along the shore of Northwest Florida as a summer retreat for his family. In 1979 Davis inherited the parcel from his grandfather and aimed to transform it into
an old-fashioned beach town with traditional wood-framed cottages of the Florida Panhandle. Davis, his wife, Daryl, and architectural partners toured the South studying small towns as a basis for planning Seaside. The Davises set up a lemonade stand on Highway 30A and sold to the occasional cars that came by and shared with the visitors their vision for Seaside.
SEASIDE: A THROWBACK TO SIMPLER TIMES Seaside is a comforting throwback to simpler times because the co-founder Robert Davis wanted people to be able to walk down the paths of Seaside and stop on people’s front porch for a glass of lemonade or iced tea and take advantage of a light Gulf breeze. Every street ends on a gateway to the sea. Many people attend visit Seaside to attend an event, or to shop and have dinner there, and end up falling in love with the community, eventually making it their home or summer destination. There are only 148 full-time year-round residents in Seaside. Many are empty nesters or they own a business there. Semi-permanent residents live in Seaside about six months out of the year. Then there are the many visitors who come year-round. Most of the homes in Seaside are second homes and rental homes for people in the feeder markets of Atlanta, Nashville, Birmingham, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Tallahassee, and a lot of smaller markets. Many of the visitors are from the New York area, and some have second homes in Seaside. There is an architectural code in Seaside for residential, civic and commercial areas. “This code pushes all of the elements to their farthest reach, but you feel like there is such unification because of the code,” said Kerri Parker. Typically, Spring Break is a peak time for visitors to Seaside. “We start to see Spring Breakers arrive the last week of February, and they keep coming through the end of Easter,” said Parker. “After a short break, they’re back for summer.”
VIP CLARKSVILLE MAGAZINE'S BEST OF THE BEST VOTING BEGINS MAY 9TH • 47
