Okaloosa Island is a regionally used term for a small section of larger Santa Rosa Island located in Okaloosa County, Florida. Okaloosa Island is home to hundreds of residential homes, high rise condominiums and major hotels and motels. The area is unincorporated and uses Fort Walton Beach as a mailing address but it is not actually part of that city. The island is part of Florida's Emerald Coast and features spectactular sugar-white sand beaches.
Okaloosa Island is connected to Fort Walton Beach via the Brooks Bridge and to Destin, Florida via the Destin Bridge. Both 4-lane bridges are part of U.S. Highway 98. The island is surrounded by water with Santa Rosa Sound and Choctawhatchee Bay to the north and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. The other major thoroughfare on Okaloosa Island is Santa Rosa Blvd. One unit of the Gulf Islands National Seashore is located on the island.
An 875-acre (3.54 km2) parcel of Santa Rosa Island with three miles (5 km) of Gulf frontage was conveyed to Okaloosa County on July 8, 1950 in an informal ceremony at the county courthouse in Crestview, Florida. The county paid the federal government $4,000 to complete the transaction, which was the result of the efforts of Congressman Bob Sikes.[1] This area had been known as Tower Beach with the establishment of an amusement park, boardwalk and hotel from the mid-1930s. Tower Beach, with a board walk, casino, restaurant and concession stands, and operated by Thomas E. Brooks, of the same family for whom the Brooks Bridge is named, was largely destroyed by fire on Saturday, March 7, 1942. Wartime priorities precluded its reconstruction. [2]
All of Santa Rosa Island that is in Okaloosa County is generally considered "Okaloosa Island" except for land owned and used by Eglin Air Force Base.