established in 1999…
In 1999, the renowned St. Joe Company set to work on The Retreat, a meticulously planned neighborhood situated on 90 verdant acres. Ensconced among abundant palmettos, magnolias, and scrub oak, along a coastal dune lake and 3,000 feet of beach, The Retreat was designed to immerse itself - and its inhabitants - in the lush surrounding natural landscape.
The intentional spirit of The Retreat’s master plan gave way to ninety homesites, each painstakingly platted to celebrate the best each lot has to offer: the quintessential picturesque views and rare stillness of natural topography. Twenty-four gulf-front properties rise above the sugary sand at Walton County’s highest elevation; twenty-two lake-front sites embrace the abundant waters of Draper Lake; all bask in the quiet sanctuary of thirty-five conservation acres.
Twenty years later, The Retreat’s architecture and abundant flora and fauna continue to grow in harmony. Palmettos cradle the neighborhood’s unique homes, deer emerge from the pines to wander quiet streets, the outfall of Draper Lake opens and closes as tides and weather change. And now, a renewed vision for tranquility, steeped in the neighborhood’s best natural elements, rises from the dunes as construction for The Beach Club commences.