EUCHEEANNA COMMUNITY / 1ST COUNTY SEAT FOR WALTON COUNTY / 1828-1885

Eucheeanna, the first Scottish settlement in territorial Florida, was named in honor of the Euchee Indians. Tradition holds that the first slave child was born in the settlement. Eucheeanna consisted of a school, court house, jail, Masonic and Odd Fellows halls, general stores, a sawmill and a grist mill. The first monument in Florida erected to confederate dead was located in Eucheeanna in 1868 by the Ladies’ Monument Association. At that time, Eucheeanna was the county seat for Walton County until the court house was burned by an arsonist in May, 1885. On May 27, 1886, a commission approved moving the Walton County seat to DeFuniak Springs. Finally, the monument was moved to Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church and later moved to DeFuniak Springs. The Civil War came to Eucheeanna on September 23, 1864 when the federal troops, under General Ashboth, came to raze and plunder on their way to Marianna and Tallahassee.