Communities – Walton Past to Present

Democratic Meeting in Walton County

By DianeMerkel | January 23, 2025 - 3:45 pm |January 23, 2025 Eucheeanna, Politics

Floridian and Journal, June 17, 1854

After Spanish Gold

By DianeMerkel | August 20, 2022 - 3:19 pm |August 20, 2022 DeFuniak Springs

Reprinted from The Morning News, Savannah, Georgia, August 12, 1894, page 11. AFTER SPANISH GOLD. To Renew the Search for Pirates’ Treasure. Deposits Supposed to Exist in Florida, Near Pensacola—Fate Interrupted a Search—Efforts to Form a Syndicate of Moneyed Men to Renew the Investigation—Capital Needed. From the New York Advertiser…. Continue reading →

How DeFuniak Springs Acquired Its Name

By DianeMerkel | June 29, 2022 - 11:05 am |June 29, 2022 DeFuniak Springs

Leave a comment

By Anna Reardon, Staff Writer, DeFuniak Springs Herald-Breeze, December 28, 1972, Page 1Published by the Genealogical Society of Okaloosa County, Volume XIX, Number 66, Winter 1995, Pages 52-53. The man for whom the town of DeFuniak Springs was named, was a Frenchman, according to his grandson, Colonel William Q. DeFuniak… Continue reading →

Map of Walton County

By DianeMerkel | June 29, 2022 - 10:42 am |June 29, 2022 Communities, Maps

Leave a comment

Source: De Funiak Springs and Walton County, Florida; compiled by Chas. F. Turner; unknown pub. date

Drive-in Theaters in Walton County

By DianeMerkel | May 26, 2021 - 11:04 am |May 26, 2021 DeFuniak Springs, Paxton

Leave a comment

Highway 90 Drive-in in DeFuniak Springs Trail Drive-in in DeFuniak Springs Starlite Drive-in in Paxton/Laurel Hill If you have any information about these movie drive-ins, please write to DianeMerkel@cox.net.

Thompson Cemetery

By DianeMerkel | May 25, 2021 - 10:16 am |May 25, 2021 Santa Rosa Beach

Leave a comment

Santa Rosa Beach Destin Log – July 18, 1984 The Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation would like to find the map referenced in this article: If you have information about the map or know where John Andrew Fleury is now, please contact Diane Merkel at DianeMerkel@cox.net.

Walton County Post Offices

By DianeMerkel | January 21, 2021 - 10:20 am |January 21, 2021 Communities

Leave a comment

As of March 16, 1913 (This was before Okaloosa County was formed and before the eastern part of Santa Rosa peninsula left Washington County to become the southern part of Walton County.) Argyle Bearhead Bolton Bruce Crestview Darlington Dearland DeFuniak Dorcas Ealum Freeport Garden City Glendale Gordon Lakewood Laurel Hill… Continue reading →

Stuart Knox Gillis

By DianeMerkel | June 26, 2020 - 7:03 pm |June 26, 2020 DeFuniak Springs, Knox Hill, People

Leave a comment

Stuart Knox Gillis, seventh son and eleventh child of John and Christian McIntosh Gillis, was born at Knox Hill, Walton County, Florida on July 28, 1866. He, like his older brothers, attended school at the Old Knox Hill Academy. As did many of his Gillis kin, Knox Gillis taught school in his younger… Continue reading →

David Donaldson

By DianeMerkel | November 17, 2019 - 1:12 am |November 17, 2019 DeFuniak Springs

Leave a comment

In a story called, “David Donaldson (left) My Great Grandfather” it states, in part: “Benjamin [Donaldson] served three years in the Confederate Army, was captured by the Yankees and finally joined up with the Union forces at Barrancas in Pensacola. Ben was a blacksmith and his young son Dave worked… Continue reading →

Darlington

By DianeMerkel | October 4, 2019 - 5:55 am |October 5, 2019 Darlington, Uncategorized

Leave a comment

This undated photograph shows the busy town of Darlington about 100 years ago. According to Sally Merrifield of Merrifield & Pilcher Realty, the store on the right was either Moore’s Store or Green’s Store. There was a huge turpentine industry there until the early 1940s. It disappeared and so did… Continue reading →