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Welcome to Topsail Hill Preserve State Park
This park offers a wide variety of natural resources including 3.2 miles of secluded, white sand beaches with majestic dunes over 25 feet tall. Three rare coastal dune lakes provide excellent freshwater fishing. Although boats are not allowed, fishing from the shoreline yields bass, bream, panfish, and catfish. Lakes, pristine beaches, old-growth long leaf pines, sand pine scrub, and a variety of wetlands offer a bird-watching and hiking paradise. Visitors may bike, walk, or enjoy a quick ride to the beach on our timely tram service to swim, fish, sunbathe, or beachcomb. Gregory E. Moore RV resort features a (non-heated) swimming pool and shuffleboard courts. Furnished bungalows are available for weekly stays. A camp store offers a variety of camping items, as well as snacks and drinks. Located in Santa Rosa Beach on Route 30A, one mile off U.S. 98.
Contact the Florida Park Service Information Center for general inquiries.
For Information about Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, please call 850-267-0299.
Hours of Operation
8:00 AM to sunset
Driving Directions
Located in Santa Rosa Beach 10 miles east of Destin, FL. Take Interstate 10 to Exit 85 (Defuniak Springs) and follow U.S. Highway 331 south. Travel 27 miles to U.S. Highway 98. Turn right and travel approximately 5 miles west to scenic Highway 30A. Turn left and go ¼ mile to the entrance on the right.
Park Fees
Admission Fees - Honor $2.00 per vehicle (HWY 98 and HWY 30-A)
Pedestrians, Bicyclists, extra Passengers, Passengers in vehicles with holder of Annual Individual Entrance Permit - Admission Fee $1.00
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History & Nature
Evidence from midden mounds (discarded debris
from Native American communities) and a large
mound adjacent to the park, indicate that Native
Americans used this area for fi shing, hunting
and camping. The variety of food and natural
resources found in the freshwater coastal dune
lakes, Choctawhatchee Bay and the Gulf of Mexico
allowed Native Americans to camp on this coast
for extended periods of time. From the late 1800s
to the mid-1900s, workers from the Quarters
Turpentine Village turpentined old-growth
longleaf pines in forests now part of Topsail Hill.
Turpentine was important for maintaining the
wooden ships used to transport goods and people.
Chippers carved cat-face patterns into the trees
and inserted a metal strip to allow the sap to fl ow
into clay pots. Cat-face scars can still be seen in
many living trees in the park.
During World War II, the western portion of the
preserve was used as a munitions testing range
for developing the fi rst missiles in the United
States. Iron and rebar tracks were laid down to
allow trucks to travel across the soft sand. Visitors
can see these tracks, especially along the hiking
trail south of Morris Lake.
This 1,640-acre park features a variety of habitats:
pristine beaches, freshwater coastal dune lakes,
old-growth longleaf pine forests and wetlands
Topsail Hill Preserve State Park
7525 W. Scenic Highway 30A
Santa Rosa Beach, Florida 32459
Phone: 850-267-0299
Hike, bike, fish, picnic, birdwatching.