Rosemary Beach: Nature Deluxe
By Kathie Farnell
Photos by Jack Purser Jr.

Some years ago the new Florida Panhandle community of Seaside made news with its upscale small town design. Now Seaside’s planning team, Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, has developed a new community on the Gulf of Mexico. Rosemary Beach, just a few miles east of Seaside on Florida highway 30-A, aims to combine the traditions of classic small towns and beachside living.

When it’s finished, Rosemary Beach will be a thriving small town of around 1500 people with dry cleaners, grocery stores and all the amenities within walking distance. Today, construction is going on at a furious pace and the future downtown area is taking shape. A post office, town hall, shops and restaurants are open for business. Palatial beach houses, designed to resemble West Indies architecture, line the streets and boardwalks leading to the beach. The typical building lot in Rosemary Beach includes a main house and carriage house, a sort of gilt-edge version of the garage apartment. Many of the houses and carriage houses are available for rent.

Rosemary Beach resembles Seaside in its dedication to preserving a harmonious look. Richard Gibbs, town architect, was also the architect for Seaside. He oversees building of all structures in the town, working with the homeowner and the homeowner’s individual architect to insure that the building’s exterior fits the Caribbean look selected for the town. Houses and other buildings here are reminiscent of historic buildings in New Orleans and St. Augustine, with their upper story balconies and shutters. The development is named for the wild rosemary, which looks like the culinary kind, and which this time of year is abloom with tiny purple flowers.

The Main Street area is headquarters for shops and restaurants. Shabby Slips offers made-to-order slipcovers. The shop also sells pillows, country antiques, slip-covered furniture, art and decorative glass.

Flavours of France, an antique shop and interior design studio, features an eclectic blend of French antiques and accessories, primarily from the 17th century to mid-20th century.

The Gourd Garden Courtyard Shop, an upscale sibling of The Gourd Garden down highway 30-A, carries pottery, glass, textile and wood as well as personal care products and unique vintage home décor items.

Next door, the Medusa Rouge Wine Shoppe & Tasting Room offers wines by the glass.

It’s possible to stay in Rosemary Beach without shelling out for one of the deluxe cottages. The Pensione, an Italian-style bed and breakfast inn, is now open at 78 Main Street, just steps away from the water’s edge. The inn offers eight sleeping rooms, each with a gulf view, queen-sized bed and private bath. Continental breakfast is included in the room rates, which start at $118.

The Pensione’s Italian influences are obvious in the façade—the inn’s rosy hue is the result of raw pigment mixed into stucco. Inside, the feel is almost Scandanavian—a spare, uncluttered style featuring pine furniture and birch doors.

The inn’s ground-floor restaurant, Onano, which made its debut in December, 2003, is open to the public for dinner. Eventually, service will expand to include breakfast; for now, guests in The Pensione are served a complimentary breakfast in the restaurant. During our visit, the dinner menu featured lamb with dried cherries and orzo, medallions of pork and fresh local seafood, including excellent grouper. Desserts included homemade ice cream.

Before opening The Pensione in May, 2001, innkeepers Mark and Penny Dragonette had lived and worked in Seaside for seven years, operating "the world’s smallest bed and breakfast"—an efficiency apartment named "JUSTRITEFORMETOO!" in the second floor of Studio 210, their art gallery. When the couple decided to focus on being innkeepers, they found inspiration for The Pensione during a month-long trip to Italy which included a visit to Onano, the hometown of Mark’s grandparents. The Dragonettes decided to create an affordable alternative to Rosemary Beach’s costlier accommodations in the style of Italy’s moderately-priced inns.

Rosemary Beach’s amenities are open to The Pensione’s guests. Recreational facilities include clay tennis courts and a comprehensive tennis program. Bikes are available for rent at the pro shop. The community has several swimming pools. The Coquina Pool, located near the beach, is open daily, and the Cabana Pool on the landward side features cabana-style changing rooms and a separate children’s pool. The indoor-outdoor Sky Pool is open year round. Special features include a metal structure roof with motorized panels that can be opened in warm weather, and closed in cooler weather. In addition to heated water, the pool decking features radiant heating, providing a warm walking surface during winter months. Other features include three individual swim lanes and a long, built-in bench for casual lounging.

Rosemary Beach is located in the Florida Panhandle on Scenic Highway 30-A which runs off Highway 98 between Destin and Panama City, Florida. The closest airports are Panama City and Okaloosa Regional Airport in Fort Walton Beach, both of which are served by ASA/Delta Connection, Northwest Airlink, US Air Express, and Comair.

The 30-A area is home to an eclectic mix of small, charming beach towns including Seaside, Grayton Beach, and WaterColor.

Natural attractions in the area include Deer Lake State Park which features massive dunes, a beach and lake, and Eden State Gardens and Mansion, an elegant Greek Revival house and grounds overlooking the Choctawhatchee River. Huge live oak trees shelter camellias and roses and the park has its own butterfly garden.

For more information on The Pensione, other rental options at Rosemary Beach, and an overview of the Scenic Highway 30-A area, visit www.rosemarybeach.com or www.beachesofsouthwalton.com

Kathie Farnell and Jack Purser are based in Alabama and have been doing travel writing and photography since the early 90s. Their favorite topics include nature travel, romantic destinations, weekend getaways and offbeat topics. They both come from a legal background; Jack was an attorney for the US Department of Agriculture, and Kathie founded Farnell Legal Research. Kathie also produces programming for public television and radio. kfarnel@gulftel.com, www.artemismedia.org