Rediscovering America_ Exploring the Small Towns of Virginia & Maryland - Bill Burnham [75]
Getting Here
Interstate 64 provides access to the towns of the Virginian Peninsula, including Williamsburg and Yorktown. Route 17 runs north-south through Gloucester and the Middle Peninsula, and the Northern Neck is traversed by routes 3, 202 and 360.
Several airports serve this area: Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport (tel. 757-877-0221 or 757-877-0924); Norfolk International Airport (tel. 757-857-3200, www.norfolkairport.com); and Richmond International Airport (tel. 804-226-3000, www.flyrichmond.com).
Regional Information
Northern Neck Tourism Council, tel. 800-393-6180, www.northernneck.org.
Williamsburg Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, 421 N. Boundary Street, Williamsburg, tel. 800-368-6511, www.visitwilliamsburg.com.
Colonial Beach
With a deep-water port and long, sandy beach, Colonial Beach enjoys an enviable spot on the wide Potomac River. Never shy about exploiting these natural endowments, the town has endured boom and bust, fame and notoriety, and a cast of colorful characters, much of this tied to the town’s proximity to the Maryland border.
The story of this town is tied equally to Maryland as to Virginia. In 1632, King Charles I granted to Catholic nobleman George Calvert land bounded to the north by the 40th parallel, and by the south shore of the Potomac. This gave his new colony, Maryland, ownership of the river proper, and placed Northern Neck towns literally “on the border” of Maryland. Inevitably, conflicts arose between the states over use of the river and, in an early stroke of diplomacy, George Washington helped formulate rules for use of the river by either state for commerce. Yet animosity persisted for two centuries, reaching a fever pitch during a period known as the Oyster Wars, from the late 19th century through 1960.
Colonial Beach kept to the sidelines in this drawn-out battle. It was in the good-time business of entertaining Washington DC tourists who came by the boatloads on summer weekends. An amusement park with a large ferris wheel operated until a hurricane in 1933 destroyed it and three popular “beer piers” built out into the Potomac. Because the piers crossed into Maryland, the owners operated under that state’s laws, thus circumventing Virginia’s strict alcohol laws.
By the 1950s, business owners found a new way to exploit the border and draw crowds. Gambling was legal in Maryland, and a long pier and casino with slot machines extended from the Colonial Beach shoreline into the Potomac and across the border. Colonial Beach was instantly revitalized as a tourist destination, although the new enterprise brought a somewhat tawdry reputation as “the poor man’s Las Vegas.”
The end of World War II saw a violent resumption of the Oyster Wars, and this time, Colonial Beach was in the thick of it. A valuable oyster strike was found nearby and Colonial Beach oyster packers hired watermen to poach the beds. Maryland’s specially commissioned oyster police pursued them with high-powered motor boats outfitted with machine guns. When, in 1959, Virginia waterman Berkeley Muse was killed in a hail of gunfire from the Maryland authorities, the hue-and-cry led to formation of a bi-state commission that to this day governs use of the Potomac.
Outlaw days behind it, Colonial Beach is reborn as a popular boating destination and the last deep-water port for pleasure boaters heading north on the Potomac to Washington DC. The town’s 2½ miles of beach, one of the longest stretches in the state, draws sun-bathers, fishing tournaments, Jet-ski competitions, music and seafood festivals. Boaters can pull up for free at the town pier and browse the many antique and specialty shops with land-lubbers, then choose from