Tom King Bayou is a small, but locally important,

bayou In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...

and

creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...

Navarre, Florida Navarre is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Santa Rosa County in the northwest Florida Panhandle. It is a major bedroom community for mostly U.S. military personnel, federal civil servants, local population, retirees ...

. The mouth of the bayou opens onto

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa countie ...

near

Axelson Point Axelson Point is a small cape along the shore of the East Bay in Navarre, Florida. The point is sometimes mistakenly called Diana's Point by local residents, though the origin of this is unclear. The point is named after the Axelson Family, one o ...

and Robledal. The bayou acts as a major runoff for stormwaters and is critical to the local environment and for local homes for this purpose.

Recreation

The bayou is

navigable A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Such a navigable water is called a ''waterway'', and is preferably with few obstructions against dir ...

by small boats for just short of a mile (1.6 km) and is a popular fishing spot. Though lacking the volume of recreators as other bodies of water in the area such as

Santa Rosa Sound Santa Rosa Sound is a sound connecting Pensacola Bay and Choctawhatchee Bay in Florida. The northern shore consists of the Fairpoint Peninsula and portions of the mainland in Santa Rosa County and Okaloosa County. It is bounded to the south by San ...

, paddleboarding and kayaking is not uncommon in the relatively calm waters of the bayou. The origin of the name of the water body is mostly unclear, though the name does appear on maps as early as 1921 and is mentioned by name in accounts of the area from as early as 1915.

Bridge

The bayou is crossed by East Bay Boulevard near the entrance of the bayou. Though it had no official name, the bridge is often referred to as Tom King Bayou Bridge. The bridge had previously not been pedestrian friendly, despite sidewalks and trailway expansions along the connected East Bay Boulevard. However, several designs were furthered to allow for pedestrian friendliness. In 2022, a pedestrian bridge was constructed alongside the bridge to improve pedestrian connectivity and is part of a larger trail project by the Florida Greenways and Trails Foundation.

References

{{Reflist Navarre, Florida Bodies of water of Santa Rosa County, Florida Tom King Bayou