A Seagrove week beyond the towel
Seagrove's off-towel hours run on water, woods, and walking: Eastern Lake, one of Walton County's 15 named coastal dune lakes, for paddling and fish-house dinners; the state-forest bike loops behind it; Deer Lake State Park's dune boardwalk east along 30A; Eden Gardens' oaks and gardens a few miles north; and Seaside's square a stroll from the town's west end.
Criteria, printed as always: everything named here is listed by the county's authorities, 30A.com, or the parks themselves, sources linked below. We skip entry fees and hours on purpose; those live on each park's official page and change more often than websites admit.
The lake
Eastern Lake is the town's standing miracle: a coastal dune lake, a type the county notes exists only in Madagascar, Australia, New Zealand, Oregon, and here, breathing in and out through its outfall where dark lake water periodically cuts the beach to meet the Gulf. Mornings are for paddling its glassy side; evenings are for sushi and live music at Old Florida Fish House on its shore. Our Eastern Lake guide explains the mechanism; the short version is that the beach out east rearranges itself on the lake's schedule, and watching it do so never gets old.
The woods
Behind the lake, the state forest carries the Eastern Lake Bike/Hike Trail, with loops 30A.com lists at 3.5, 6, and 10 miles through longleaf and sandhill country. It is the rainy-morning insurance and the sweat option, and it shows you the watershed the dune lakes drain, the quiet half of the scenery you had dinner over.
The parks
Deer Lake State Park, east along 30A, is the minimalist masterpiece: a quarter-mile boardwalk over what 30A.com calls an other-worldly dune landscape, a half-mile of protected beach that often hands you solitude, and a restoration story that put more than 74,000 pitcher plants back in its wet prairies. Eden Gardens State Park, a few miles north of Seaside and Seagrove by 30A.com's reckoning, trades dunes for moss-draped oaks, rose and butterfly gardens, a reflection pond, and Choctawhatchee Bay views, with the historic Wesley House at its center. State-park entry applies at both; details on the parks' official sites.
The lanes, and the neighbor
Do not skip the town itself. Old Seagrove's sandy lanes under the oak canopy are the walk that explains why anyone settled here, cinder-block cottages from the 1940s sitting next to new builds, the mix 30A.com calls old and new Florida side by side. And Seaside's square waits at the western edge: Sundog Books, Central Square Records, the amphitheater lawn, the Saturday farmers market. Our evening planner builds that trip from sourced places; the point of Seagrove is that you visit the postcard and sleep under the trees.
Quick questions
What is there to do in Seagrove Beach besides the beach?
Eastern Lake (a rare coastal dune lake), the Eastern Lake Bike/Hike Trail loops in the state forest, Deer Lake State Park's boardwalk east along 30A, Eden Gardens State Park a few miles north, the oak-lane streets of Old Seagrove, and Seaside's square at the western edge.
Is Seagrove good for biking?
Yes, twice over: the 30A path through town is signed for bikes and pedestrians, and 30A.com lists forest loops of 3.5, 6, and 10 miles on the Eastern Lake Bike/Hike Trail for the dirt version.
Which state park should a Seagrove renter pick?
Deer Lake for the quarter-mile dune boardwalk and a half-mile of protected beach east along 30A; Eden Gardens for moss-draped oaks, gardens, and bay views a few miles north. Entry details for each are on the parks' official pages.