THIS OLD HOUSE: Washaway endures test of time (PHOTOS)

Before the community now known as Grayton Beach existed, the Washaway house stood tall and proud on its beaches.

The Washaway was built around 1890 as a hotel by McCaskill Land and Timber Company as a place for their crews to live, said long-time South Walton resident Van Ness Butler.

“Through the years, it has been moved, angled and twisted about, but basically, it’s pretty much in the same spot,” said local historian Chick Huettel.

As Santa Rosa Beach celebrates its centennial, the building is a true touchstone to the past. In those days, Washaway guests hung laundry from windows and the second-floor balcony to dry in the breezes coming in off the Gulf of Mexico.

Butler’s grandfather bought the dilapidated hotel from McCaskill around 1920.

“An old creek used to run almost under it,” remembers Butler. “And when my granddaddy bought it, it was about to fall down.”

Butler’s grandfather hired a crew to jack it up and sold it to the Wickersham family of DeFuniak Springs in the early 1930s.

“I had some good times there in years’ past,” chuckles Butler.

While many older homes experience re-dos, the Washaway is a rarity in that it still stands pretty much the same with its original floor plan.

“It keeps getting re-boarded, but for the most part, it looks the same now as when it was built,” said Huettel.

Over the years, the structure has served a variety of purposes, even doing its part for the country during World War II, when it served as a Coast Guard station.

Tankers from Texas on their way to England during the war passed through our Gulf waters. The Germans knew this, said Huettel, and U-boats were sent to this area to attack the tankers.

The Coast Guard set up warrior stations along the coast to intercept any German spies dropped off by the U-boats, and to rescue sailors when our boats were hit by torpedoes. The Washaway was taken over by the military as one of those stations and used as a barracks.

During that time, our beaches were patrolled by soldiers on horses and mules, which were kept at the Washaway.

Adding to its checkered past, during the Prohibition era, Huettel believes the structure was a drop-off station for rum runners from the Caribbean. 

“They probably pushed barrels of rum off boats coming in from the Caribbean and they washed up on shore,” he speculates.

Butler’s grandfather bought Grayton in 1922 and sold lots with the lure of “buy one, get one free.” His grandfather built Grayton’s second hotel on the beach in the 1920s, but it washed away in the hurricane of 1936.  The Washaway, which earned its name from almost sharing the same fate, survived.

The Washaway is currently owned by the Florence family and is rented through Rivard Realty as a double-decker vacation house on the beach.

“I think it should be on the historic register,” said Huettel. “It has survived hurricanes for all these years, but I believe the Washaway’s days are numbered.”

Huettel began visiting South Walton’s beaches when he was 14. He has made the area his home for 23 years, which is when he began investigating the area’s history. He is president of the Coastal Heritage Preservation Society.

Other historic structures still standing include Point Washington United Methodist Church and the Wesley Mansion, circa 1893. However, both of those have been altered.