My son posing at the monument on top of Britton Hill.
When I originally decided to try highpointing, I figured that Britton Hill would have been the first on my list. Geographically, it is the closest to the Mississippi Coast, but it ended up being the second the stop on my quest instead. While the height of this highpoint, 345 feet, is far from impressive, a trip to Britton Hill shows some of the other joys of highpointing. I cannot imagine a reason I would have made a trip north of DeFuniak Springs to this part of Florida except to go to the top of Britton Hill. I’m glad I did, and because of doing so, I saw some pretty interesting things. For example, who knew there was a high school who carried the nickname Hoboes? Not only did I learn the proper pluralization of hobo, but I found out that the Laurel Hill School carries that name as their nickname. It apparently it is a tribute to the town’s days as a railroad center. According this MaxPreps article, they are the only such team in the United States.
The amount of farmland and rolling hills just south of Alabama state line surprised me. The ride itself proved to be quite pleasant, and Florida, or at least the area around the high point are quite proud of it, because there are signs that keep telling someone they are near.
Lakewood Park sits on the top of Britton Hill. There is no major trek to reach the high point. Instead, you just pull into the park’s parking lot and walk about fifty yards to the monument announcing the highpoint.
My son, Benjamin, may have put it best when he asked, “Daddy, where is the mountain?”
There are a few short (under one mile) trails that you can hike while there, but since we were about to start fighting bugs at dusk with no bug repellant, we passed.
If you go to Britton Hill, make sure you take the time to sign the register and take in a few of the views. It is pretty, even if it is in pretty in a different way than most highpoints.
The Way There and the Path to the Top
To answer this one in reverse, there is no path to the top. This is a short walk after parking in a parking lot at Lakewood Park.
The trek to the Britton Hill highpoint in Florida. Park your car and walk about 150 feet to the highpoint monument.
As far as getting there, most people will probably head to Britton Hill by taking Interstate 10. I, traveling from the west, ended up taking exit 70 to take a few back roads until I hit US 331. Those feeling less adventurous or coming from the east can take exit 85 at DeFuniak Springs and take US 331 the whole way until County Highway 285.
If you take exit 70, you will take Florida Highway 285N/US 90 and join it with Florida Highway 10E. After this you will take County Highway 1087 for about eight miles before briefly turning onto County Highway 2 to high US 331. From US 331, you turn onto County Highway 285 to make it to the park.
Nearby Points of Interest
Even though it is in the northern part of the Florida Panhandle, a trip to the beach is still not that far away. If you are spending time in Destin or Panama City, a trip to Britton Hill is more than doable.
The Chautauqua Vineyards are located just off of exit 85.
A couple of hours east, just outside of Marianna, Florida, are the Florida Caverns. This is well worth the visit if you have extra time. I’ll be slapping up an extra post about this gem later this week.
A Blind Shot at Reaching 50 State Highpoints 