Gambling At Colonial Beach

The Town of Colonial Beach, Virginia, and the surrounding area have a rich and colorful history.

In the 1960s a devastating fire burned the casinos to the waterline. In more recent times, rapid population growth in the Washington Metropolitan Area helped Colonial Beach regain its appeal as a waterfront resort. Colonial Beach reassessed itself as a community, and sought to encourage managed, high quality growth. No there is not a casino in colonial beach VA i know i lived there 30 years now.Not to diminish contributor ID's Contributionsto this site, but as Albert Nimzicki (actor James Robert.

Artifacts (including a seven ton oyster midden, or dump site) discovered by archaeologists from the William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research document a Native American presence dating to 500 B.C., long before John Smith visited the area during his voyage of discovery in 1608.

During Colonial times, the region was dotted with plantations and farms settled by such notables as the families of George Washington, James Monroe and Robert E. Lee. Economic activity was primarily related to fishing and farming, which remain important to the local economy. Development of the town began in 1878, when Henry Kintz purchased a 650 acre tract on White Point (now referred to simply as The Point.). The first survey of the land was recorded in 1882; and by 1883, the Colonial Beach Improvement Company had been established by prominent D.C. businessmen for the purpose of developing the area as a summer resort town for Washingtonians.

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The owners of the casinos solved the problem by sawing a break in the pier, therefore severing the connection to Virginia. The party finally ended about ten years later. Virginia convinced Maryland to change their statutes to outlawed riverfront gambling in 1958. Colonial Beach faded into an obscurity.
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By 1906, steamers such as the St. Johns were transporting thousands of visitors from the D.C. area to Colonial Beach, which now had a thriving boardwalk area, hotels and other amenities to accommodate the throng of visitors. The advent of the automobile led to the decline of steamboats and the resort era, as families took to the road to enjoy multiple weekend trips rather than extended summer vacations popular in the early 20^th century.

Colonial Beach was the epicenter of the century-long Oyster Warsthat lasted from the mid-19th Century to the 1960s. Oysters were as hot a commodity as gold and crucial to the area’s economy, until respected and well-liked local farmer and father of three, Berkley Muse, accused of illegally dredging oysters, was shot and killed by the Maryland Marine Police. This incident effectively ended the Oyster Wars and led to the creation of the Potomac River Fisheries Commission

Legalization of slot machines in Charles County, Maryland, in 1949, and a 1632 land charter led to a decade-long casino era. Businessmen from both sides of the Potomac River seized the opportunity to capitalize on the lucrative venture, erecting wharves from the Virginia side of the river to small casinos built on piers in the Maryland-owned (courtesy of the 1632 charter) Potomac. Offshore, a large gambling barge, Pleasure Island, shuttled guests from the Virginia shore to its floating gaming house full of slot machines. In 1958, under pressure from civic and religious groups, Virginia officials convinced Maryland legislature to amend its slot machine law, disallowing the use of slot machines in establishments unreachable from Maryland soil, and the casino era ended.

Colonial Beach’s rich cultural history is depicted in beautiful murals on buildings throughout Town, illustrating its bygone era, and evident in the form of the remaining 19^th and early 20^th century architecture. The privately-owned Bell House (once home to the father of Alexander Graham Bell), a fine example of the Stick/Eastlake style built in the mid-1880s, still stands majestically along Irving Avenue. Dennison Street Inn, the former home of the first mayor of Colonial Beach, has been refurbished in period style and is now a bed and breakfast.

Gambling In Colonial Beach

The Museum at Colonial Beach, housed in one of the Town’s oldest structures, features permanent and changing exhibits, personal collections, photos and artifacts that tell the stories and preserve the history of our beloved town. Learn more at www.museumatcolonialbeach.com.

Colonial Beach Va Gambling

~Mitzi Saffos, curator, The Museum at Colonial Beach

Colonial Beach, Virginia, along with its surrounding area, is rich in history. The jewel of the Northern Neck, it has been home to inventors, fishermen, writers, gamblers and statesmen since its incorporation in 1892.

Colonial Beach began its existence as a bathing and fishing resort in the nineteenth century. The town’s location on the Potomac River was an asset in an era, prior to the introduction of the automobile, when travel was slow and restrictive. Most visitors arrived by boat from Washington , D.C. Recreation activities included bathing at the mile-long sandy beach, fishing and boating. It was in this era, the latter part of the 19th century, that Colonial Beach became known as the “Playground on the Potomac.”

Twenty-five years after it had been founded as a vacation and water resort, Colonial Beach became an incorporated town, organizing on February 25, 1892. Colonial Beach prospered as a resort in succeeding years. The lure of beaches and waterfront property started a building boom of Victorian-era homes, summer cottages and large hotels. The most famous of these structures, The Alexander Graham Bell house, still stands today on Irving Avenue as the Bell House Bed and Breakfast.

The subsequent popularity and decline can be tied to transportation and legalized gambling casinos. Traveling by automobile to ocean-side resorts became more and more fashionable and weekend trips replaced the extended vacation which kept the large hotels of Colonial Beach filled with guests. In the 1960s a devastating fire burned the casinos to the waterline.

In more recent times, rapid population growth in the Washington Metropolitan Area helped Colonial Beach regain its appeal as a waterfront resort. Colonial Beach reassessed itself as a community, and sought to encourage managed, high quality growth. Zoning regulations were adopted to promote land use planning and compatible forms of development.

Located roughly equidistant (65 miles) from the major metropolitan areas of Richmond, Virginia and Washington, D.C. the town is again very attractive to working families, retirees, and many seeking second homes. The renewed interest in the community is evidenced by the increase in the construction of single-family residences and new planned communities.

Gambling In Colonial Beach Va

Tourism is still an important factor in the town’s growth and popularity. Colonial Beach is only minutes away from the heavily traveled Route 3 “Historic Corridor” which links such attractions as Stratford Hall, George Washington’s Birthplace, Westmoreland State Park, Historic Downtown Fredericksburg and many other popular tourist stops.

Gambling Colonial Beach Va

Residents of Colonial Beach enjoy a distinctive waterside setting unlike any other Tidewater community. Almost three-quarters of the town site is enveloped by large expanses of open water, with the Potomac River to the east and Monroe Bay to the southwest. This peninsula setting offers local residents picturesque views and easy access to water recreation. This fun filled town is still known as “The Playground on the Potomac.”