This superb history takes us from the earliest settlement of Walton County, Florida, through its role in the wars and conflicts of the 19th century, to its development as a modern district. John Love McKinnon was a descendant of Colonel John L. McKinnon, who was one of the original founders of Walton County, being part of a trio of white men to first set foot upon the land. The colonel's expeditionary accounts are a significant source for the first part of this history, which discusses the characteristics of the land, the picturesque coastline, and its suitability for settlement. A clear appreciation for natural beauty graces this chronicle; the streams, fields, groves and woods of the land are evocatively described. At first sparsely populated, by the time of the U.S. Civil War many young men of the area were recruited for combat in the Confederacy. Though the area itself escaped skirmishing, several local residents fought in the large battles of the war, such as Chickamauga. On several occasions this history becomes biography, recounting the stories of individual lives and the legacy they left upon the community, be it in military prowess or with establishing the first schools and businesses.

Serving as the seat of Walton County, DeFuniak Springs is one of the most picturesque cities in the Florida Panhandle. A surveying party scouting routes for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad discovered the area in 1881 and decided it was the perfect setting for a town. Named for Frederick DeFuniak, a prominent official of the railroad, the town of DeFuniak Springs was born. Among the settlement's first visitors was a representative of the New York Chautauqua, who was seeking a location for a winter assembly. The first Florida Chautauqua Assembly was later held on the bank of Lake DeFuniak in the winter of 1885. Until the 1920s, DeFuniak Springs was hailed as a cultural and educational center of the Southeast. Today the city remains a popular destination thanks to its continued focus on cultural events and the Victorian architecture for which the town has come to be widely known. In 1992, the DeFuniak Springs Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places thanks to the efforts of the Walton County Heritage Association.