A Romantic Getaway Eastern Lake / Seagrove / 30A
a special place to unwind, refresh, reconnect, honeymoon or just fall in Love again!
Experience Unforgettable sunsets
Escape to the way it used to be with Palmetto Bungalow
The Palmetto Bungalow is one of those hidden vacation rental gems that almost guarantees a return visit. We pride ourselves on offering a clean, comfortable and captivating property to best ensure your satisfaction. From stunning sunsets overlooking the channel where Gulf and lake meet to multiple relaxing cozy sitting areas all with views of Eastern lake and Gulf, the Bungalow is equipped to please! Fully stocked and with all the amenities you need to make your stay a memorable one, our goal is for your visit to create those special moments one day, one late morning, one sunset, one beach day, one chapter and one lazy afternoon at a time.
Why Book the Palmetto Bungalow
This special property takes you back to yesterday, the simpler times…the way it used to be. The property is perfectly located in Seagrove along the renowned 30A corridor & nestled on a jutting point on Eastern Lake, one of the Walton county’s 14 rare dune lakes. It is located within close proximity to many amazing restaurants such as Old Florida Fish House, shopping spots galore (Seaside, Rosemary, Alys Beach) & entertainment venues all along 30A.
An easy Bike ride to most.
step Inside the Palmetto Bungalow
Living
Refreshing
Sleeping
Upon entry the shiplap walls & pinewood ceiling boasts a lake coastal charm. The space is opened directly to lake views through a glass sliding door.
A large comfortable couch gives views of the gulf. A Smart TV, blinds & black out curtains, dimmable lights, ceiling fan and mini bar area stocked with various bar and glassware for those special beverages completes the room.
Unwind. Nap. Repeat.
Sleeping
Refreshing
Sleeping
Enjoy an ultra-cozy King size bed w/views of the lake and Gulf. You will feel spoiled with the luxury bedding and pillows, a Nectar memory foam mattress with an ultra-comfortable 2” cooling gel topper! Sleep the morning away w/black out curtains! Complimenting the room is dimmable lights, bedside wall lamps, ceiling fan and a swiveled wall mount smart TV.
Wake up & don't make the bed!
Cooking
Refreshing
Refreshing
The quaint fully stocked & equipped kitchen overlooks the living area over the quartz dining counter. Two bar stools allow for comfortable inside dining. A mini stove/range, refrigerator, dish washer & microwave allows a full array of options during your stay with plenty of storage for your snacks or groceries. From coffee to omelets to pasta, the cooking options are yours.
If you feel like it!
Refreshing
Refreshing
Refreshing
The bathroom invites you into a space just for you. A glass enclosed shower with bench & nook, and five-setting shower head allows for a soothing rinse. A bluetooth speaker light/fan & dimmable shower lighting is for your ambience. Drawers in vanity sink and a shelf wall cubby allows for storage for your personal items. The side window also has a view of the lake and channel.
Refresh & Rejuvenate.
outside the palmetto bungalow
Lakeside Deck
Side Palmetto Deck
Lakeside Deck
The LAKEFRONT deck with two umbrella shaded teak lounge chairs with padded footrests, hanging Rosemary planters and a privacy wall sets for a perfect morning coffee spot.
Front Deck
Side Palmetto Deck
Lakeside Deck
The FRONT deck is ideal for a little afternoon R&R while sitting in the Adirondack chairs perfected only with a gulf breeze, a book and a favorite beverage.
Side Palmetto Deck
Side Palmetto Deck
Side Palmetto Deck
The SIDE deck is private and provides a teak table & chairs with shade umbrella and is surrounded by a natural wall of our favorite Palmettos for a serene and quiet place for a sunset dinner for two.
Outdoor Shower
Paddle Boards & Canoe
Side Palmetto Deck
After a day at the beach rinse away the sand and cool off with the Bungalows outdoor shower. Of course it has lake, channel and Gulf views too!
Afternoon Breezes
Paddle Boards & Canoe
Paddle Boards & Canoe
The Palmetto Bungalow's welcome path guides you back each time with fresh expectations that won't disappoint.
The hammock spot should be on your "to do" list. it is surrounded by shady, winding and lazy sand oaks that catch the gulf breezes. A gentle swinging hammock will most certainly bring on an afternoon doze.....The way it used to be!
Paddle Boards & Canoe
Paddle Boards & Canoe
Paddle Boards & Canoe
The Bungalow provides two stand up paddle boards and a fiberglass flat bottom canoe including all the paddles & life jackets needed. Also beach gear such as a soft cooler, two chairs & umbrella is provided.
The beach is just a few paddles away!
Come on in
Bedroom with a view.
Where comfort and luxury meet.
Living to kitchen view.
Living Room.
Kitchen View.
Living room with a view.
Living room to kitchen.
Bar area for your favorite beverages.
Kitchen.
Kitchen.
Welcome goodies.
Laundry Area.
Bathroom.
Shower with bench.
Linen Storage.
Exterior Gallery - the Palmetto Bungalow
This way to the Palmetto Bungalow.
View from the front deck.
Shower and side deck.
Canoe lakeside.
Side "Palmetto" deck.
Lakeside deck.
THE FLOYD FAMILY LEGACY
This is their story
A little over fifty years ago a family, a small parcel of land and a set of house plans began their journey together. This is how the Floyd family and their home...today known as The Palmetto Bungalow & Future “To Be” Remodeled Palmetto Lakehouse on beautiful Eastern Lake were meshed together in a small unknown place called Seagrove Beach.
This home was built in 1974 by Wendell and Jeanette Floyd and is still owned by their children. True locals to the core!
THE DESTINATION:
341 Lakeview Dive is a special property nestled graciously on a jutting point of Eastern Lake and has had a front row seat to the history and evolution of the 30A corridor, Seagrove and the transformation from the natural desolate dunescape of the past to the current landscape of homes dotting the shorelines. Yet after all of the growth you can still hear the Gulf waves rolling in and see the same view where the lake channel opening meets the Gulf and the Gulf meets the Lake. Natures way of inhaling and exhaling... the way it has been for hundreds of years. The same way it was when the Floyd Family first arrived in Seagrove in the early 70’s. A sparse and blank canvas painted with only towering dunes, wooded shorelines, floating seagulls, jumping mullet and small handful of true local “settlers” to this “neck of the woods”.
THE BEGINNING YEARS:
Young Wendell & Jeanette Floyd were married in 1958. Jeanette was from Holland and Wendell first met her in Germany when Wendell was stationed there during his service in the United Sates Amy. After a very brief courting mainly through letters, Jeanette made the brave step at a young 18 years old to move from Holland to the US and join Wendell. She landed in 1958 and boarded the train to the small town of Defuniak Springs, FL. After getting married, Wendell & Jeanette moved to Mobile, AL and starzted a family and began their eventual trek to their new home destination at 341 Lakeview Drive - The Palmetto Lakehouse & Bungalow!
The lot was first purchased in 1968 by Wendell and his father, Jesse L Floyd of Defuniak Springs for a whopping $5,000. Flat, sandy and “naked, it only displayed the infant small winding, twisting scrub oaks that you now see shading the property today, yet boasted serenity. Lakeview Drive was a single dirt road and the unknown 30A was a mere quiet access road east to west. The globally rare dune lake was a natural wonderland rugged and untamed.
The Floyd’s family grew and in time had three children...Gina, Jon & Felicia. After spending summer vacations in Seagrove at the Old Seagrove Villas they endeavored to construct a new home on Eastern Lake for their summer vacations.
On January 23, 1974 they officially closed on their newly built lake home for a total sum of $15,000. Their payments were $190.14 per month.
THE LAKEHOUSE:
The main house (the soon to be “Palmetto Lakehouse”) was built by Rachel-O’Neal Construction Company from Defuniak Springs and was presented with a tall roof lined with sun windows across the top. It was dressed in brown cedar wood siding.
The home had no air conditioning but the wide sunny decks where the gulf breeze flowed allowed for some relief from those hot summer days. Inside brown paneling covered the walls and a free-standing wood fireplace heater was in use for the colder winter months. The mustard yellow refrigerator stamped this as a true time capsule of that era.
The Floyds finally moved from Mobile, AL to Seagrove, FL just a short time after.
It was the start of the Floyd Family’s Eastern Lake living in the 70’s.
THE PALMETTO BUNGALOW:
As the early years progressed, Jeanette and Wendell welcomed their first grandchild. Wendell then began to build a separate apartment unit onto the main house and that is where Gina and her new son, Jeff would live for a time. It was a small 400 square foot addition built one 2x4 at a time with a simple handsaw, spiral nails, a hammer and the “true git” that was common in that generation. Slowly she was completed and the door was opened to a new generation and of course a priceless back and side view of the beauty of Gulf and Lake.
A diamond in the rough.
This is now the Palmetto Bungalow!
THE EARLY LOCALS:
Jeanette began her local career as a beautician and opened Beachcomber salon in multiple locations. She was a well-known successful hairdresser for decades and had many stories to tell.
The Floyd family were one of a few original residents that raised families around the 30A area and Jeanette was noted as their go to hairdresser.
Some of these notable original families include:
- Cube & Junie McGee whose story is depicted at the Surfing Deer Restaurant
- Jeanie Allen whom Dune Allen is named after
- The Flower family who were the owners of the Old Seagrove Villas on the beach
and
- Van S Butler who owned most of the land in and around Grayton Beach and who Van Butler Elementary is now named after.
It was a small community and much of the charm of the area today reflects from these family’s stories and their forged relationships.
EASTERN LAKE:
The lake was full of flounder, redfish, speckled trout, mullet and crabs. Over the decades the lake has introduced freshwater fish like bass and bluegill from the northern part where the lake is fed into from creeks from the north. Many nights were spent fishing and gigging flounder.
Gina, Jon and Felicia and friends would routinely sleep outside on the beach with only a sleeping bag taking in the solace of an isolated shore and channel. There were very few homes on the beach at that time. Summers were spent water skiing, sailing and sitting around beach fires.
Simple times.
In September of 1975, Hurricane Eloise hit the area and most of these beach homes were destroyed. Appliances and debris floated in the lake and now are most likely a fish haven at the lake bottom. Although the gale force winds plastered the house with sand and turned the brown siding into a white “sand-blasted” veneer, she stood strong and weathered through many storms and years.
THE LATER YEARS:
Eventually the children moved out and away but Jeanette and Wendell remained in their beloved paradise. In 2003 they added a new front addition to the home. The trees continued to grew taller and twisted upward to create a perfect tree climbing playground.
Now fifty years later, that simple time of south Walton county living has now sprung a whole new experience. Seagrove and the 30A corridor would see new and bigger homes begin to dominate the area and the quietness gave way to the sound of people, traffic and construction.......BUT this property is a bubble preserved in time.
THE FLOYD LEGACY:
Wendell & Jeanette lived a full life. This property was a special slice of heaven on earth to them and gifted many years of tranquility, joy and memories for generations to come.
In 2016 Wendell passed away and Jeanette in 2021. Gina passed away in 2023. Jon and Felicia still own this home. Felicia and her husband have since completely remodeled the side apartment addition (The Palmetto Bungalow) to it’s current state and they are all presently working on plans to refurbish and remodel the main house into The Palmetto Lakehouse. The vision is to allow the next chapters to capture the past while giving even better years and memories to the Floyd family’s next generation and all who will visit here for years to come.....from our heart to yours!
“It is and will be important for us to keep the original integrity of this home the way it used to be. A snapshot in time preserved not only to honor the memory of our parents but also the way it used to be.” Jon & Felicia
The Floyd Family
Back row: Wendell, Jeanette, Gina
Front Row: Jon, Felicia
Jeanette & Wendell on her arrival to the states from Holland
The early house. No neighbors or trees.
Jeanette in front of her new salon sign.
Aftermath of hurricane Eloise at the channel.
An after noon sit on the deck helps to retell the stor y
If you listen, you will still hear the waves.
If you look, you can still see astounding sunset colors cascading over the open beach view and lake channel.
We remember.
You are invited to as well.
We hope this takes you back.