Ice on the beach, but it could be worse

Cars, decks, porches. Lanais, steps, bridges. All of it, covered with ice. Even perhaps most astonishing of all the beaches.

Schools, banks and stores were closed. The mail was not delivered. ATMs were frozen over.

Wednesday was definitely a day unlike any other in South Walton.

"It's a chicken, greens and cornbread kind of day," said Point Washington resident Debbie Weant, who, like most locals, took the Sheriff's Office advice to take the day off and cook comfort food, watch movies, catch up on chores or get started on those taxes.

Kathy Fly-Bridges opted for the chocolate-chip cookie route as others worked from home, cleaned closets and knitted.

The bounty of ice was a first for some South Waltoners, but for natives and old timers, it was not.

Seaside founder Robert Davis recalls the first Seaside Prize ceremony in April 1983, where all were amazed to see spring snow at the beach. He said Vincent Scully, one of the recipients, was Yale's Sterling Professor of Art and Architecture, so he was accustomed to snow in New Haven but a bit surprised by its appearance during his imagined escape from winter weather to sunny Florida.

Adrianne Walline, who was born in DeFuniak Springs and lived in Grayton until she was 6, also has wintry memories. She lived on Choctawhatchee Bay until last year.

"I remember as a kid the bay being frozen in the 1960s," she said. "It happened again in the 1970s, and in 1989 the temperature was below freezing for two days and three nights. The water was frozen 100 yards out the first night, and the second day, that doubled. The power was out for 10 hours and ice accumulated on the inside of my windows.

We had gas space heaters and a gas stove we used for heat, and the old land line phone. And, yes, it snowed then too, and snow was on our car. It was just enough to dust everything. When the canals froze, people went out on it and picked mullet up from on top of the ice."

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Ice on the beach, but it could be worse