Freeport

 

Freeport is a crossroads between North and South Walton County. It is favorably situated and within driving proximity to Tallahassee, Pensacola, Montgomery, Ft. Walton Beach, and Panama City Beach. It is within an hour of the Northwest Florida Regional Airport, the NWFL Beaches International Regional Airport, the Destin Municipal Airport, and the DeFuniak Springs Municipal Airport. It is a half-hour drive from the beaches and golf courses of South Walton. Freeport is a proud cooperative neighbor of Eglin Air Force Base which borders the city limits. Freeport is a progressive small city on the verge of great things to come!

 

Freeport was first known as Genoa and later Four Mile Landing. During the Civil War, Four Mile Landing began to be referred to as Freeport, literally because there was no charge to dock at the port area at the junction of Four Mile Creek and LaFayette Creek. Another locally circulated story is that at some point in that time period, an unclaimed shipment of wine was discovered in the port area and everyone in the area was encouraged to come have a little “free port”!

 

Freeport remains home to many of the founding families who first settled in this area. In the 1850 census, most of the heads of the house were listed as farmers/boatmen. Many of the residents farmed their land and fished in the downtime or worked the commercial fishing boats/cargo vessels. The various landings were named for the families that settled along LaGrange Bayou, Four Mile Creek, Black Creek, and the Choctawhatchee River.

 

For many years, Freeport, with its steamboat and schooner connections to Pensacola, and up the Choctawhatchee River to Geneva, Alabama was the commercial and political hub of Walton County. Today, the Gulfstream Ship Building and Murphy USA dominate the original port area at the juncture of Four Mile Creek and LaFayette Creek at the head of LaGrange Bayou. A number of residents work at Eglin Air Force Base, as military personnel, contractors or civil service, but the lion's share of work south of the Bay in South Walton County is either in county employment, construction, or in one of the service industries associated with the tourist trade (real estate, hotels, restaurants, retail, etc.). Come be part of the progress of this beautiful ‘small town’.