Okaloosa County is a county located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Alabama state line. As of the 2020 census, the population was 211,668. Its county seat is Crestview. Okaloosa County is included in the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida Panhandle, located about three miles (5 km) southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County.
Destin is a city located in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. It is a principal city of the Crestview–Fort Walton Beach–Destin, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 13,931 at the 2020 census, up from 12,305 at the 2010 census.
Fort Walton Beach, often referred to by the initialism FWB, is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 20,922, up from 19,507 in 2010. It is a principal city of the Crestview−Fort Walton Beach−Destin, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Shalimar is a town in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Crestview–Fort Walton Beach–Destin, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 737 at the 2020 census, up from 717 at the 2010 census.
Hurlburt Field is a United States Air Force installation located in Okaloosa County, Florida, immediately west of the town of Mary Esther. It is part of the greater Eglin Air Force Base reservation and is home to Headquarters Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), the 1st Special Operations Wing (1 SOW), the USAF Special Operations School (USAFSOS) and the Air Combat Command's (ACC) 505th Command and Control Wing. It was named for First Lieutenant Donald Wilson Hurlburt, who died in a crash at Eglin. The installation is nearly 6,700 acres (27 km2) and employs nearly 8,000 military personnel.
The Florida panhandle is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a salient roughly 200 miles (320 km) long, bordered by Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is arbitrarily defined. It is defined by its southern culture and rural geography relative to the rest of Florida, as well as closer cultural links to French-influenced Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Its major communities include Pensacola, Navarre, Destin, Panama City Beach, and Tallahassee.
Santa Rosa Island is a 40-mile (64 km) barrier island located in the U.S. state of Florida, thirty miles (50 km) east of the Alabama state border. The communities of Pensacola Beach, Navarre Beach, and Okaloosa Island are located on the island. On the northern side of the island, are Pensacola Bay on the west and Choctawhatchee Bay on the east, joined through Santa Rosa Sound.
The Emerald Coast is an unofficial name for the coastal area in the US state of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico that stretches about 100 miles (160 km) through five counties, Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, and Bay, which include Pensacola Beach, Navarre Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Destin, and Panama City Beach. Some south Alabama communities on the coast of Baldwin County, such as Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, and Fort Morgan embrace the term as well.
Santa Rosa Sound is a sound connecting Pensacola Bay and Choctawhatchee Bay in Florida. The northern shore consists of the Fairpoint Peninsula and portions of the mainland in Santa Rosa County and Okaloosa County. It is bounded to the south by Santa Rosa Island, separating it from the Gulf of Mexico.
The Northwest Florida Daily News is a daily newspaper published in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. It was founded in 1946 and is owned by Gannett.
Destin Executive Airport, also known as Coleman Kelly Field, is a public use airport owned by and located in Okaloosa County, Florida. The airport is one nautical mile (2 km) east of the central business district of Destin, Florida. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2021–2025, which categorized it as a general aviation facility.
Robert Lee Fulton Sikes was an American politician of the Democratic Party who represented the Florida Panhandle in the United States House of Representatives from 1941 to 1979, with a brief break in 1944 and 1945 for service during World War II.
State Road 85 is a north–south state highway that runs from US 98 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida north to State Route 55 at the Florida/Alabama state line. In its earliest inception, it was just a clayed road over graded sandy soil, and was known early in the twentieth century as the Georgia, Alabama and Florida Highway.
Northwest Florida State College (NWFSC) is a public college with its main campus in Niceville, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, offering associate and baccalaureate degrees, and several certificate programs. NWFSC operates multiple campuses across Okaloosa and Walton counties.
The Valparaiso Inn was built in 1924 on the shores of Boggy Bayou in Valparaiso, Florida, by developer James E. Plew. The three-story Spanish stucco structure was patterned after Chicago's famous Edgewater Beach Hotel. It had four wings angled to catch the breeze and provide a panoramic view of Boggy Bayou and Choctawhatchee Bay. It offered 56 guests rooms.
The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FDJJ) is a state agency of Florida that operates juvenile detention centers. Its headquarters are in the Knight Building in Tallahassee.
The Brooks Bridge is a four-lane steel and concrete structure that carries highway U.S. Route 98 (US 98) over Santa Rosa Sound just west of the Choctawhatchee Bay between downtown Fort Walton Beach, Florida and the 3-mile-long (4.8 km) section of Okaloosa Island controlled by the city of Fort Walton Beach. It is named for John Thomas Brooks, who, in 1868, purchased 111 acres of what is now downtown Fort Walton Beach. The area on the north side of the sound where the bridge connects was known as Brooks Landing. It has a charted clearance of 50 feet (15 m) above the water.
James E. Plew was a successful Chicago businessman whose early interest in the development of aviation eventually led him to acquire the initial leasehold in 1934 on the Valparaiso, Florida property that would evolve into Eglin Air Force Base.
Okaloosa County School District is a public school district that covers Okaloosa County, Florida. The district has its headquarters in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. The current superintendent of schools is Marcus Daniel Chambers.
