Seaside's founder Robert Davis explains how the town got its name.
“We wanted a name that sounded like a town name, not a development name and certainly not a typical development name that evokes whatever natural feature the developer eradicated — Hidden Pines, Old Mill, etc.
Seaside was beside Seagrove Beach and not too far from Sunnyside, where I had spent much of my childhood. So it was an elision of those two names.
In the early years, since nobody knew where Seaside was, we advertised it as “Beside Grayton Beach State Park.” Or “A dip away from Destin.”