Chesapeake Beach Railway

From 1900 until 1935, the Chesapeake Beach Railway carried Washington excursionists through the honeysuckle-scented countryside of Southern Maryland, earning the name The Honeysuckle Line, and its last train left Chesapeake Beach on April 15, 1935. For more than 70 years, Chesapeake Beach was a popular bayside resort visited by people from Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and nearby Southern Maryland, while many also enjoyed the beach and seaside cottages of North Beach. Steamboats brought visitors from Baltimore to Chesapeake Beach, docking on a pier that extended one mile into the Bay. The resort and railway were built by Otto Mears and David Moffat, Colorado railroad builders and financiers. From 1900 until 1930, the resort stood on a half mile long boardwalk over the water; in 1930, the amusements were moved onto land and renamed Seaside Park; and from 1950 until it closed in 1972, the resort was known as Chesapeake Beach Amusement Park. Through the years, thousands of visitors carried home happy memories of its varied amusements, water sports, good food, and Bay breezes.

Chesapeake Beach, Maryland · United States