Emerald Coast | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Florida |
| Cities | Pensacola Pensacola Beach Navarre Fort Walton Beach Destin Panama City |
TheEmerald Coast is an unofficial name for the coastal area in the US state ofFlorida on theGulf of Mexico that stretches about 100 miles (160 km) through five counties—Escambia,Santa Rosa,Okaloosa,Walton, andBay—which include Pensacola Beach, Navarre Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Destin, and Panama City Beach. Some south Alabama communities on the coast ofBaldwin County, such asGulf Shores,Orange Beach, andFort Morgan, embrace the term as well.
Beginning in 1946, for marketing purposes the coast fromFort Walton Beach to Panama City was named the "Playground of the Gulf Coast", as witnessed by the name of the Fort Walton Beach newspaper, thePlayground News, later thePlayground Daily News, and now theNorthwest Florida Daily News.
In 1952, this stretch of coast was dubbed the "Miracle Whip" by Claude Jenkins, a local journalist. The term was reflected in the formerMiracle Strip Amusement Park, its successorMiracle Strip at Pier Park and other local businesses.[1][2] The name "Miracle Strip" was officially adopted by 35 officials and members of three district Florida Motor Courts Association chapters on March 14, 1956, at a meeting held at the Staff Restaurant in Fort Walton Beach, for the 100-mile stretch of scenic Highway 98's "fabulous string of motels, hotels and nightspots" from Pensacola to Panama City. Members included representatives of local chambers of commerce.[3]
According to theDaily News, the term Emerald Coast was coined in 1983 by a junior high school student, Andrew Dier, who won $50 in the contest for a new area slogan.[4] Since then, the term has been expanded by popular usage to cover all of the northwest coast of Florida from Pensacola Beach to Panama City Beach.
The area and particularly the beaches along the Emerald Coast from Pensacola to Panama City are also referred to as the "Redneck Riviera", alluding to the strongSouthern culture of the hinterland.
Popular vacation destinations includePanama City,Pensacola,Pensacola Beach,Gulf Breeze,Navarre,Navarre Beach,Fort Walton Beach,Niceville,WaterColor,Panama City Beach,Destin, andSeaside, a planned community whose iconic pastel-paint and tin-roof construction was made famous in theJim Carrey movieThe Truman Show, filmed in the area from 1996–1997. Other communities on the Emerald Coast arePerdido Key,Sandestin,Mexico Beach,Grayton Beach,Inlet Beach, andSanta Rosa Beach.
The area is a family drive destination, attracting tourists from across theSouthern United States due to its close proximity. The Emerald Coast is a three-hour drive east ofNew Orleans.[5] In the first decade of the 21st century, the popularity of the Emerald Coast expanded greatly, leading to new construction and rapid growth.[6] Many development communities similar to Seaside sprang up in the southern part ofWalton County and at the western end of Panama City Beach, raising property values.
Deep-sea fishing is an area attraction, with Destin holding the nickname "World's Luckiest Fishing Village"[7] (and several saltwater world records) and Panama City Beach hosting the annual high-dollar Bay Point Billfish Invitational. The area has many seafood restaurants.
On 15 October 2019, the Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners approved a new “destination logo” that the Tourist Development Council had recommended, to be introduced in the TDC's new marketing campaign beginning in January 2020. The “Emerald Coast” will be dropped for a simplified logo reading Destin Fort Walton Beach, Florida. This aligns with the renaming of the Northwest Florida Regional Airport to theDestin–Fort Walton Beach Airport in February 2015.[8]
This part of Florida is home to numerous military bases, with installations includingNaval Air Station Pensacola (home of the Navy'sBlue Angels demonstration team and the initial training site for all naval aviators),Hurlburt Field,Eglin Air Force Base (one of the largest military bases in America),Tyndall Air Force Base, Coastal Systems Station-Naval Surface Warfare Center (home to theNavy Experimental Diving Unit and Naval Diving & Salvage Training Center), andCorry Station Naval Technical Training Center. Two other military bases,Duke Field andNaval Air Station Whiting Field are also in the area but are located inland from the coast.
The well-established military presence in the region has led to many film appearances, the earliest being the practice takeoff runs byDoolittle Raiders forThirty Seconds Over Tokyo, shot atPeel Field, an auxiliary field atEglin Field, in 1944. Some scenes in the 1949 filmTwelve O'Clock High, another film about World War II, were also shot at Eglin.
The 1972 eco-horror filmFrogs was filmed inWalton County, Florida, in and around the Wesley House, an old Southern mansion located inEden Gardens State Park in the town ofPoint Washington, situated on Tucker Bayou offChoctawhatchee Bay.
Exterior shots and several interior scenes for 1998'sThe Truman Show were filmed in Seaside.[9]
The 1998 Sega Dreamcast gameSonic Adventure features a level called Emerald Coast.
The majority of scenes forJaws 2 (1978) were filmed in the region, in theNavarre area. Interiors for the youth's pinball hang-out were filmed in Fort Walton Beach at the now-razed original location of Hog's Breath Saloon onOkaloosa Island, and Bruce the Shark's control sled was placed on the bottom of the Gulf offNavarre Beach and the mainland community ofNavarre.
"Redneck Riviera" is the title of a song byTom T. Hall (from his 1996 albumSongs from Sopchoppy) about this region and the nearbyForgotten Coast. The song's lyrics include:
Parts of John Grisham's bookThe Whistler (2016) take place in and around the Emerald Coast.
| Topics |  Map of North Florida | |
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