The Panhandle

Florida's thin, green northwest corner snuggles up between the Gulf of Mexico and the Alabama and Georgia state lines. The Panhandle is sometimes called "the other Florida," since in addition to palm trees, what thrive here are the magnolias, live oaks, and loblolly pines common in the rest of the Deep South. As South Florida's season is winding down in May, action in the northwest is just picking up. Part of the area is even in a different time zone: the Apalachicola River marks the dividing line between eastern and central time.

Until World War II, when activity at the Panhandle air bases took off, this section of the state was little known and seldom visited. But by the mid-1950s, the 100-mi stretch along the coast between Pensacola and Panama City was dubbed the Miracle Strip because of a dramatic property value rise. In the 1940s this beachfront land sold for less than $100 an acre; today that same acre can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars. To convey the richness of the region, with its white sands and sparkling green waters, swamps, bayous, and flora, public-relations pros ditched the Redneck Riviera moniker that locals had created and coined the phrase Emerald Coast.

Politicians, developers, and community advocates haggle continuously over waterfront development, but despite unfortunate pro-growth realities, the Panhandle remains, for the time being, a land of superlatives: it has the biggest military installation in the Western Hemisphere (Eglin Air Force Base), many of Florida's most glorious white-sand beaches, and the most productive fishing waters in the world (off Destin). It has glitzy resorts, campgrounds where possums and deer invite themselves to lunch, and every kind of lodging in between. Students of the past can wander the many historic districts or visit archaeological digs, while nature lovers can hunt, canoe, bike, and hike. And most anything that happens on water happens here, including scuba diving and fishing, from deep-sea charter boats or the end of a pier.

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