Rosemary Beach–Manmade Beauty Compliments The Best That Nature Has To Offer
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The gently lapping surf, warm Gulf breezes and long stretches of white sand beaches along Florida’s Scenic Highway 30A corridor, known as Northwest Florida’s Emerald Coast, entice many Dallas families year-round. The area sets an example in careful land use and master neighborhood planning. Ordinances restricting building heights to 50 feet or four stories have prevented the area from becoming the concrete jungle that other beach towns too often become, with high-rise buildings blocking the beach view from the public eye.
Whether you’re there as a visitor seeking to rent a hotel room, condo or house, or you’re looking to purchase a second home property, there are several walkable “new urbanism” communities located between Panama City and Destin to choose from. The concept relies upon a blend of intimate neighborhoods and public spaces that make it easy and desirable for visitors and homeowners to experience the good life in this serene setting without the need to ever get in their vehicles.
Composed of an interconnected network of streets and blocks, featuring street designs to encourage walking and biking, a variety of housing types, a commercial center and preserved civic spaces, Rosemary Beach continues to be among the fastest growing areas in South Walton County. More suggestive than restrictive, the Rosemary Beach Code Book serves to educate and foster its design philosophy. Architecture buffs appreciate the community as a study in Pan-Caribbean architecture with shapes and silhouettes calling to mind St. Augustine, the West Indies, New Orleans and Charleston. While every home is architecturally unique and custom designed, each plays an inextricable role in the fabric of the town. Building codes designate that only natural and genuine materials are used in construction, and no paints are permitted—only water-based stains can be used.
Living quarters range in size from 1,000 to 7,500 square feet across 12 different residential building types to choose from. These include Arcades, Live/Work Units, Flats, Courtyard Homes, Townhouses, Sideyard Houses, Small Houses, Large Houses, Park Houses, Beach Houses, Beach Cottages and Large Courtyard Houses. The Private Resident Club offers fractional ownership opportunities. Many condos and homes are available for rental, and several hotel options are also available within the community.
Named for the rosemary that grows wild in the area, Rosemary Beach also has progressive landscape codes prohibiting the use of any landscape that is not native to the area on individual properties, including grass. Relegating the use of grass to special community “greens” creates one of the special characteristics of Rosemary Beach. Greens are the gathering places for picnicking, an impromptu game of ball or an outdoor wedding.
The beautiful beaches with dune walkovers to protect the fragile environment are a main attraction, but even without the beach, there would still be much to entice outdoor recreation– four swimming pools, the Rosemary Beach Racquet Club, a 2.3 mile fitness trail with exercise stations, a butterfly garden and more. Dramatic vistas are everywhere, framed in the columns of a beach-side pavilion, revealed by a sudden bend in the road or appearing, as if magically, at the end of a boardwalk promenade or secret pathway. Any time spent in Rosemary Beach will leave you yearning for more.
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