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Here in Alys Beach , on the seacoast of Florida ’s panhandle , the sun is so intense that even on a mid - September day my married man , David , and I wait until other even before baffle over the pristine dunes with our baby daughter , Ailigh . The nightfall visible radiation is a watercolor gambol of pink and indigo wash over a reflective canvass of fine quartz particles , ground off from the Appalachian Mountains during the Ice Age and carried by the Apalachicola River into the Gulf .
I retrieve my first glance of the town as I drove along Highway 30A , just west of Panama City Beach . A bunch of whitewashed walls and top out cap eased into prospect . Photo by : Jon Whittle . SEE MORE picture OF THIS GARDEN
David dips Ailigh ’s feet into the frothy white waves , elicit worked up lallation ; her soft dimpled legs instinctively pass on for the ground until her bare feet palpate sand for the first prison term . Florida is our home , and this “ first ” could have pass at any number of beach . Yet it is no accident that we chose this one . I ’ve pictured bringing my family here since before we were three .
My husband and I subsist 400 geographical mile south of Alys Beach , in Orlando . As longtime New Yorkers who had move to Florida for a job rather than for its virtues , we ’ve spent an inordinate amount of time explore , discussing and imagining our idealized future home . We ’ve envisioned a place with urban element where we can be part of a community of interests of originative , up-and-coming , assailable - minded people while survive more in tune with nature ; a home where our small fry can play freely outdoors , and her education can effortlessly expand beyond the schoolroom . After my first visit to Alys Beach and its neighboring communities — known collectively as the Beaches of South Walton — for a powder store duty assignment in 2008 , I wonder if I ’d found that place .
I remember my first glimpse of the townsfolk as I drove along Highway 30A , just west of Panama City Beach . A cluster of whitewash wall and top out roofs eased into view . Against a cloudless sky , Alys Beach was a effervescent oasis that cue me at once of Morocco , Bermuda , the Mediterranean glide and Latin America — remnants of my travel days , before family turn over home biography more appeal than the route .
Walking along the beautiful , and also water - permeable , cobbled nerve pathway , I glint through the casual decorative cutout or gap in the wooden and Fe doors that lead into secret court . exposure by : Jon Whittle . SEE MORE picture OF THIS GARDEN
But what really pull me was how Alys Beach ’s master plan , plan by Andrés Duany of the Miami - based architectural firm DPZ ( Duany Plater - Zyberk & Co. ) , underline both community and a sustainable relationship with this thin slice of Florida ’s eco - system . Duany is a co - father of the Congress for the New Urbanism , which promotes high - denseness , meld - purpose , walkable and ecologically sustainable towns . Alys Beach is one of four New Urbanist communities along 30A , where the movement got its start in 1981 just up the route at Seaside . There , an beguiling collection of shops , eating house and pastel - colourise bungalow with vast front porch are all connect by lanes and pathways designed for pedestrians , not cable car . Seaside set the blueprint for a beach township build aside from the beach , protecting the dunes . Alys Beach , like all of the towns along 30A , followed that lead . One of the things that really attracted me to the area is the tutelar persona its resident physician play in protecting nature .
The more I learned about Alys Beach , the more I care it . Not least appealing was the fact that the residential district comprise solely of unripened - certified structure that are fortified to resist hurricane . The township , bookended by its valued beach and dune to the south and 22 Acre of preserve wetlands to the Union , is trust to sustainability and is meant to be standing , alongside its untouched natural habitats , hundreds of years from now — a will to the vision of the Ithiel Town founder , Jason Comer , whose family bought these 158 acres in 1977 and cooperate with DPZ in the pattern of the present - day residential district .
My sprightliness has been full since that first sojourn , including a round - trip move to California and back , and the much - anticipated birth of our girl . Now , once again , I ’ve come to Alys Beach as a guest , but this time it feel dissimilar . I ’m with my family , and we ’re pretending the lavish house to which we hold the key is ours , enjoying the sound the heavy wooden threshold makes as it thunks closed against the iron latch . The home base ’s open - air entryway lead to a courtyard , where covered settee heap with pillow , containers planted with palms and the soothing sound of water from a rampart fountain make a convincing contestation for lingering outdoors . Gallic doors on three side of the court open into the living way , kitchen and master suite . The fourth side is a wall that is shared with the house next door . concentration is central to New Urbanism .
Before settling in , I suggest we search the town ; I remember enough about it to play tour of duty scout for David . On our walk of life we encounter a tropic soundscape of frogs , trickle spring and an allée of softly rustling weaver ’s bamboo off the main footer way of life . I ’m struck by the unfolding landscape of tough native species and other plant adapted to salinity , wind and drought — a immature - on - super C palette that for me is the unfeigned gist of Florida .
A private , poolside cabana at nightfall in the fundamental building complex , Caliza . exposure by : Jon Whittle . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
Walking along the beautiful , and also water supply - permeable , cobbled pathways , I glint through the occasional cosmetic cutout or break in the wooden and iron doors that lead into secret court . A pair of white Scotties float on majestic - blue puddle rafts in one ; a woman sits crabbed - legged , reading , in a chair beside a spring in another . This choice of seclusion is a defining machine characteristic that set Alys Beach aside from other New Urbanist towns . Here , there are no front porch on which to drink lemonade and yak with the neighbors . Instead , families enjoy individual outdoor space in the var. of courtyards modeled after the patio homes in the metropolis of Antigua , Guatemala .
I am reminded of the family build up by my great - grandfather in San Juan de los Lagos in Jalisco , Mexico . During my first and only visit there , in 1999 , I spent an emotional day retracing my root , stitching together details of my past as told to me by a current of relatives whom I ’d never forgather before . Perhaps it is the exercising weight of this storage that cause me finger like I ’ve already find a family here in Alys Beach .
Near the end of the pedestrian path , we come to the Fire Pit Green and sit in a couple of ashen Adirondack chairs . This is just one of many sac parks in Alys Beach , enticing civil spaces where neighbour can interact with one other . As we explore , the parks discover themselves — sometimes openly , sometimes coyly — as a train of garden minute that call for us to pause on a workbench or chairman or , one of my preferred spots , on face - to - facial expression seats built into a keep rampart beneath the lacy shade of a willow tree tree . These thoughtful green space provide placid complements to Alys Beach ’s central built characteristic : an architecturally splendid building complex called Caliza that comprises pool , sofa areas , a bar and a restaurant , all surrounded by plantings that offer structure , color , shade and a connection to the surround environment .
retrovert to the Fire Pit Green , I ’m hoping I ’ll get lot of Ann Hartley , a kindred spirit I ’d foregather on my early visit who lives just off the townsfolk green . Ann and her hubby , George , were two of Alys Beach ’s first fulltime residents and have become well known in the Beaches of South Walton as the owners of three restaurants ( including George ’s , the only eatery in Alys Beach ) . It was Ann , partially , who got me dreaming about survive in Alys Beach . When I met her , I was impressed by her and George ’s fearlessness . “ young woman , we ’re just crazy hoi polloi , ” Ann said to me , before going on to tell me the history of how they ’d picked up and left Dallas with their three kids in towage and plunked the kin down in nearby Seagrove , looking for a place where it did n’t weigh what kind of car you drove or where you spent your holiday . “ If you ever need a push , ” Ann said , “ call me . ” It ’s an go I still keep in my back pocket .
Summer ’s daily storm stride in , so we give up on learn Ann for now and race back to our business firm as pelting begins to light . We climb the step and watch the show from the balcony . tabloid of water and flash of lightning fill the outer space between the heavy gray sky and the fortunate oak scrub continue the untouched belt of country to the west . The nose drops judder the walls , but we experience protected in our cocoonlike house . Watching the storm , we engage in our favorite pursuit pondering the route forrader .
The weather condition moves out , leaving behind the scent of pine needles and sand , and a coolness in the air . David and I gather up our baby and walk to the beach . Perhaps , one day , she ’ll call this home home and be capable to say , “ This was the first beach I ever stood on . ”
