Last Updated: February 12, 2017
St. George Island State Park — formally the Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park — sits at the eastern tip of a 22-mile barrier island off Florida’s Panhandle coast. Barrier islands run parallel to the mainland, absorbing storm surge before it reaches the shore. At St. George, that translates to nine miles of undeveloped shoreline, rolling sand dunes, a longleaf pine forest, and salt marshes on the bayside where oyster bars and inlets stretch toward Apalachicola Bay. Forbes ranked it the third-best beach in America in 2013. After walking its empty Gulf-side shore, we weren’t surprised.
