No...Grayton is nothing special and should be avoided at all costs. Especially the state park beach cottages. Do NOT believe the pictures, brochures and actually testimony of anyone who's been there. Keep driving along 98--try Sopchoppy, St. Joe or Panacea...try Panama City or Pensacola, forget you have ever heard of ...oh never mind...it will be another Daytona in five years.
When we first got our place in Destin, Sandestin was a lonely little resort out in the middle of nowhere, with the nearest business being the Publix on 98 4 miles away. We could take the little coast road to the Back Porch, which was then nothing more than a beachside shack that served cold beer and great sandwiches. Now, well....you see what it is now. We hardly go there at all in the summer any more. We use it primarily in Sept-Oct, and May. Grayton Beach, Seaside, and Seagrove will soon be joining the trend that Destin took I'm afraid. The state park at Seaside may be enough to preserve it as there's not many places to build, but I wouldn't count on it. We'll see. Hopefully with Panama City undergoing a re-vitalization, it will take some of the pressure off of those quaint little beachside communities for development. It would be nice to see at least some of the Emerald Coast remain untouched by big development.