Sign up for beach news and local updates—plus a chance to win a $500 30A gift basket. One winner each month!
Rare gemstones, dive watches and future heirlooms: a Miramar Beach jeweler's picks for every kind of beach lover.
Erica Courtney: A vivid collection of one-of-a-kind gemstone and diamond rings reflects McCaskill & Company’s signature mix of color, individuality and enduring style. Some jewelry is bought for an occasion. The pieces people keep usually mean more than that: a stone the color of a favorite stretch of water, a ring that marks something hard-won, a bracelet worn so often it starts to feel like part of the wrist. They hold a memory, a place and a sense of who the wearer is.
That idea is everywhere at McCaskill & Company, the longstanding jewelry store in Miramar Beach. Customers who step inside often feel a sense of awe.
It starts at the entryway, where hand-blown glass maple leaves seem to fall overhead. Then the showroom takes over. The sheer number of handcrafted pieces is impressive, but what stays with you is the variety and the extraordinary range of color. “Every display holds another treasure waiting to be discovered,” said Mackenzie Chelius, an administrator for the company.
The cases hold more than the gold, silver and diamond tones found in many jewelry showrooms (though McCaskill has those, too). Many of the store’s designers work with colorful, rare gemstones, and the result is a remarkable palette.
“Most of our designers are colored-stone specialists who tend to design pieces with bold, colorful stones as opposed to those that focus more on diamonds,” she said. “Our designers are one-of-a-kind, not run-of-the-mill where thousands of the same piece are made. These pieces are harder to recreate because the stones are so unique.”
The business has come a long way from its first home. Bill Campbell started McCaskill as a small kiosk in Seaside in 1994. Today his daughter, Carolyn Brigman, is part of the family business, and a major expansion of the current location was completed this spring.
What hasn’t changed is the belief that jewelry should feel personal.
“I truly believe there is a piece here for everyone,” said Josh Benzrihem, manager at McCaskill. “The most special jewelry is the kind that feels personal. You see a piece, and something about its color, character, or design speaks to you. It becomes a reflection of your individual style and the way you want to feel when you wear it.”
So the team put that idea to work. With the 30A crowd in mind, they gathered pieces to match the personalities of beach lovers of all kinds: the one who wants a keepsake of the water, the one who is always out on it, the collector thinking in generations, the one who wants a single perfect piece, and the one who never met a color she didn’t like. Five personalities came out of it. See whether you recognize yourself.
Gulf-water blues, worn like a souvenir that never fades.
The Coastal Romantic is the classic beach lover, someone who feels the pull of the water and wants to keep it close. “It’s for people who live here near the Gulf but also for people who want to have a token or reminder of their visit here,” Chelius said.
Fittingly, this selection is a study in blue. Oscar Heyman’s necklace and ring (the pear-shaped necklace and oval ring pictured) pair diamonds with Paraíba tourmaline, an “absolutely gorgeous” and rare gemstone. It is in high demand at McCaskill for a simple reason: it looks strikingly like Gulf Coast waters on a clear summer day.
“We do have a lot of customers who come in and ask for blues and colors that emulate the water in this area,” Chelius said.
The blue zircon and diamond earrings and ring take a different route to the Gulf’s brilliant blues. Their designer, Erica Courtney, is known as the “designer to the stars” and has been in the industry for many years. Her elaborately detailed, one-of-a-kind pieces often appear on the red carpet.
Built for salt, sun and a second time zone.
The Adventurer would rather be out on the coast than admiring it from a distance, whether they live here or are just passing through.
“It’s for the active, outdoorsy beach lover who doesn’t want to sacrifice style for lifestyle,” Benzrihem said. “They want pieces that feel elevated and beautiful, but that can still be worn while they’re out enjoying the water, the beach, and everything that makes life here so special.”
So the team looked for pieces that can keep up. Hulchi Belluni, designer of the diamond and pink sapphire rings and bracelets, builds stretch into the pieces. “They are extremely comfortable,” Chelius said. If your hands swell, or you’re using them for a sport, the jewelry expands to fit.
On the wrist, the TAG Heuer Aquaracer watches pair sporty function with coastal color. The men’s 42mm model has a deep blue dial and can track a second time zone. The women’s 36mm version has a vivid pink dial with diamond hour markers. Both are water-resistant to 300 meters.
Bought for now, chosen for the next generation.
For the Legacy Builder, jewelry is less about the moment than about what outlasts it.
“We think of larger statement pieces or pieces someone worked hard to acquire,” Benzrihem said.
Customers often come to McCaskill looking for exactly this kind of jewelry: pieces they hope to pass down to their grandchildren one day. The team’s choices include larger-diamond pieces, a pair of statement earrings, a classic tennis necklace and a range of Erica Courtney gemstone and diamond rings in eye-catching colors.
“These pieces are timeless,” Chelius said. “They’re going to last for generations and be pieces people reach for no matter what the current trends are.”
Then there is the bold men’s statement ring. Its smaller stones are genuine alexandrite, a color-changing gem that is among the rarest in the world.
“When someone is wearing this ring, it’s going to catch attention and be a conversation piece.”
Fewer pieces, finer gold and a secret worn close to the skin.
The Minimalist doesn’t want less so much as exactly enough. For this personality, the team chose smaller, simpler styles made for everyday wear that work just as well alone as together.
“You can stack them with additional pieces to make more of a statement or wear it alone, and it’s just as beautiful.”
Roberto Coin, whose pieces appear here, isn’t usually known for minimalist design, but these selections suit the personality well. He works in impressive 18-karat Italian gold and adds a small ruby to every piece, hidden where it touches the wearer’s skin. The ruby is meant as a talisman, a symbol of health, longevity, prosperity and happiness when it rests against the skin.
“It creates a nice emotional connection, which I feel like, we as women, some of us, we eat that up,” Chelius said.
As for the best first piece for a minimalist starting a collection, Chelius said there’s no single answer, because everyone has a different purpose for their jewelry. She herself favors rings and bracelets.
“I can physically see it all day long, which makes me appreciate it more.”
Warm, daring, and never the first to leave the beach.
If the Minimalist edits, the Sunset Seeker turns the color all the way up. Cheerful, warm and a free spirit, this personality goes for bolder pieces.
“This is somebody who is a little bit more daring,” Chelius said. “It’s not every day you see somebody wearing so much color in their jewelry. When I look at these pieces, it makes me instantly happy.”
The selection draws on the oranges and pinks of a beach sunset, plus the full spectrum that can appear if you stay for the whole show. It also shows off something McCaskill does best: unique gemstone jewelry.
And if none of these personalities is quite yours? That may be the point. Most people are a little of several, romantic about some things and minimalist about others, and the McCaskill team can help with that, too.
“Our sales professionals, they are all amazing at what they do,” Chelius said. “When someone comes in and says they want something special, they are really good at finding out exactly what that means to each customer.”
Hey30A AI
