Page 36 - February 2024 Issue.indd

A Chesapeake Bay
Resort – Ferry Idea

That Failed

Denton and Choptank were to have
been two Eastern Shore stops for a
steamship line from Chesapeake Beach
in Anne Arundel County in the late
1920s, but the ships never sailed.

They were to have been part of a
grandiose project to transform the
Chesapeake Bay resort into another
Newport or Atlantic City around the
turn of the century, but it was not to be.
While the bayfront resort south of

Annapolis did flourish for a number of
years, thanks to a 32-mile-long rail line R ick
from Washington, D.C., the automobile
ultimately spelled its doom and the Breeding
proposed excursion steamers from
the resort, across the bay and up the
Choptank never materialized. ROLL-OFF SERVICE

In the late 1800s, Otto Mears, a
pioneer Colorado narrow-guage
railroad builder, was sold on the idea
of erecting a modern-day Monte Carlo Residential – Commercial – Agricultural
and summer resort close to the nation’s State and County Licensed and Permitted
capital to be served by a rail line.
Concrete and Asphalt Recycling Facility
He raised the money, named it the
Chesapeake Beach Railway, and by early Yard Waste & Land Clearing Debris Recycling
1900 hand constructed the 32- mile line
to the resort where a sandy beach and PROVIDING SERVICES TO
amusement park, complete with over- Home Owners • Contractors • Commercial & Residential
the-water roller coaster, carousel and Business & Industries • Farm & Land Owners
other forms of entertainment attracted
thousand of vacationers.
CONTAINER RENTAL BY THE DAY, WEEK, MONTH OR YEAR
But the grand hotels were never built
and even though excursion ships from
Baltimore brought visitors the same as
they did to Tolchester on the Eastern
Shore, the resort declined in popularity.
In 1928, the board of directors of the
railway named G.F. Detrick, formerly
with the Sacramento Northern Railway, 410-479-0145
as president, and Eugene Fox, of the 826 Crystal Ave.,
Western Pacific, as vice-president of Denton, MD www.rickbreedingexcavating.com
the line.
Rick Breeding Excavating, Inc. and Rick Breeding Roll Off
Soon after taking office, the two is NOT affiliated with Breeding Roll Off. If the container
embarked on an ambitious effort to isn’t blue, it is not Rick Breeding!

36