| Conceived in the late 19th Century as a resort to lure visitors from Washington and Baltimore to its carousel, band shell, dance pavilion and roller coaster, this Southern Maryland town was serviced by the Chesapeake Beach Railway. From 1900 until 1930 Chesapeake Beach was a thriving independent community. People would mainly come for day trips by railway and steamboats like "The Dixie" and "The Dreamland." Only 28 miles from Washington, DC, people with more leisure time would flock to Chesapeake Beach for the cool breezes and salt water.
Unfortunately, the Depression and the rise of the automobile killed the railroad route, but the train station survives and is the setting for this museum exploring the resort's heyday, the rail line that served it and early 20th Century transportation and tourism. Exhibits include photographs of trains and the town, a model train, a diorama of the resort, and a surviving kangaroo from the carousel. |
