Freeport Florida

Freeport was founded around 1830. Visitors to the area admired LaGrange Bayou's naturally-created harbor on Choctawhatchee Bay's east side, near Choctawhatchee River's mouth. It was originally called "Genoa" and "Four Mile Landing," but as the Civil War raged, people began calling the town "Freeport" because docking in the port between LaFayette and Four Mile Creeks was literally free. Another historical interpretation of the name comes from the story of an unclaimed cargo of wine found in the port; according to the story, all the local residents enjoyed some free port.

Many families who first settled the area and founded Freeport still call the area home. The census of 1850 found that most heads of households worked as farmers or boatmen; most residents toiled in their fields and either fished during the off-seasons or worked on the commercial fishing and cargo ships. Farmers traded the produce they grew and livestock they raised good they couldn't make or grow themselves. The construction of lumber mills produced a large influx of new settlers, and many landings were established by families living along Four Mile Creek, LaGrange Bayou, Black Creek, and Choctawhatchee River.

Freeport was Walton County's political center for decades, due largely to schooner and steamboat passageways to Pensacola via the Gulf of Mexico and Geneva, in Alabama, via the Choctowhatchee River. Freeport's first mail came from Pensacola over the water, and a stagecoach trail stretching to Tallahassee merged with steamboat services in Freeport. Most goods that were ordered in Pensacola and beyond were shipped from Freeport in commercial wagon trains, following the road from Freeport northeast to Cerro Gordo through the Euchee Valley, located on the Chotawhatchee River. After Reconstruction in the Civil War era, lumber and naval supplies became Freeport's most important industries. Mills were constructed along the water since water transport was necessary for them. Valparaiso Development Company bought land in Freeport in 1918 for North and South Farms, where sugarcane was grown and sent to Chicago.

Now, Murphy Oil and Freeport Shipyards are housed at the original port in LaGrange Bayou between LaFayette and Four Mile Creeks. Many Freeport residents work at Eglin Air Force Base, both in civil and military service, but most work over the bridge in southern Walton County as county employees, builders, or in the service industry in real estate, retail, restaurants, hotels, etc. closely tied to South Walton's booming tourism.

Freeport literally divides north Walton County and south Walton County. It's conveniently positioned to Pensacola, Tallahassee, Fort Walton Beach, Panama City, and Montgomery. It's only an hour's drive from the regional airports of Okaloosa County, Bay County, Destin, and the municipal airport of DeFuniak Springs. It's within a half-hour drive from the many recreational opportunities of south Walton County's golf courses and beaches. Freeport is proud to be a neighbor to, and cooperate with, Eglin Air Force Base, right outside the town. Great happenings in Freeport are only right around the corner.

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