Pier fishing, crabbing, and sailboat watching bring visitors to Colonial Beach’s public pier year round.

Sun worshipers began sailing the Potomac River to see this seaside town in 1867. Like a cat with nine lives, Colonial Beach has had many iterations since. In its heyday, steamboats and ferry boats daily delivered the masses from Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Norfolk.

“The playground on the Potomac,” boasted Victorian houses, carnival games, and elegant hotels had orchestras and dancing. Families took extended vacations and the boardwalk buzzed from May through September.

The invention of the automobile and the concept of weekend travel brought a bust to Colonial Beach’s boom. Gambling and celebrity glamour gained back a bit of that stardust in the late forties when the town’s moniker became “Las Vegas on the Potomac.”

Alas, those days did not last either. Politicians did what politicians are often apt to do. Restrictive gambling laws killed much joy in the 1950’s.

Growth in the Washington Metropolitan Area, retirees seeking waterfront property with private docks, and a rebounding real estate market have brought a resurgence to Colonial Beach in the last two decades.

Colonial Beach is a small town with all the hail-your-neighbor charm you would expect but it is more than that. Colonial Beach is waterman’s dream and a water sports lover’s destination.

A perfect way to end the day is watching a beautiful sunset over the Potomac River.

~Tina Morris, blogger and photographer