Henderson Beach State Park, State park and beach in Destin, Florida, US.

Henderson Beach State Park is a coastal area in Destin with wide sandy beaches and tall dunes that stretch for miles along the shoreline. The park protects a rare natural environment with native vegetation and serves as a preservation zone for the local ecosystem.

Burnet Henderson, a businessman who had acquired land near Destin in the late 1930s, signed over the 208-acre tract to the State of Florida on February 2, 1982, for $13.1 million. He had been stripped of his trusteeship over the Wilkinson family's holdings in 1952, and sold his remaining interest to the state for half its appraised value. The large parcel had stayed in its natural state and was known as Henderson Beach.

The park is a place where visitors experience the natural coastal environment directly, walking through sand dunes that reveal how plants and animals have adapted to this particular setting. The landscape shows how the Gulf of Mexico shapes the local ecosystem and the way people interact with this sandy terrain.

The park has camping areas with water and electrical hookups as well as picnic tables within walking distance of the beach. Visitors should plan to explore on foot, and sturdy shoes are recommended for hiking through the dunes.

The park's surface is unconsolidated quartz sand reaching up to 350 feet thick; beneath it lie the Intracoastal Formation, Bruce Creek Limestone, Chickasawhay Limestone and Ocala Limestone. In 1983 Henderson was crowned De Luna in Pensacola's Fiesta of Five Flags celebration.