Grayton Beach State Recreation Area's name comes from the neighboring township of Grayton Beach, one of the oldest townships along the Gulf of Mexico in Walton County. This 400- acre park offers rolling sea oat-covered dunes with wide, white sand beaches tapering into the emerald green waters of the Gulf.

Obtained through a land lease from the Florida Board of Education in 1964, Grayton Beach was dedicated and opened in 1968.

Salt spray and wind pruning, two of nature's landscaping tools, are seen everywhere. What sometimes appears to be "bushes" in the dunes are often full-size slash pines and southern magnolia trees with only their tops protruding from the drifting sand. Also found within the park boundaries are pine flatwoods and scrub. Scenic Western Lake is ringed by extensive salt marsh.