[2] The county is home to the highest natural point in Florida: Britton Hill, at 345 feet (105 m).

[3] Between 1763 and 1783 the territory that has since become Walton County was part of the colony of British West Florida.

During this period Scottish settlers migrated from the backcountry of the Carolinas and settled in the Defuniak Springs area while English settlers, most of whom were either farmers or fishermen, settled in the southern portion of the county by the sea, settling throughout the area that has since become Santa Rosa Beach, Sandestin, Miramar Beach, Point Washington, Seaside and Topsail Hill Preserve State Park and Point Washington State Forest.

Both the Scots village in the northern portion of the county and the English community along the coast were largely self-contained and had economies that were entirely operational without external trade, as all products in use were made within the two respective communities, and the only external trade was between the Scots in Defuniak Springs and the English farmers/fishermen by the coast.

When the Spanish regained control of Florida in 1783, roughly two-thirds of the British settlers in Pensacola left the colony to find permanent habitation elsewhere, including in the Bahamas and Bermuda, however none of the English or Scottish settlers in what has since become Walton County left with them.

As settlers from the newly created United States of America began migrating into north Florida the English and Scottish settlers in what has since become Walton County became gradually absorbed into this community, which would subsequently become the majority population in North Florida.

Of that population, 62, or 11%, went to serve in the Union unit, the 1st Florida Cavalry Regiment that was mustered in on October 29, 1863.

[8] The first Confederate monument in Florida, located at the Walton County Courthouse, records the names of 94 soldiers who died fighting for the Confederacy.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 75,305 people, 28,635 households, and 20,034 families residing in the county.

[28] Walton County has 4 branches, including the historic DeFuniak Springs Library.