Tolchester Beach, Maryland

The region known as the Eastern Shore of the U.S. state of Maryland has many great small towns.  (The region is called the Eastern Shore because it is on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay which divides the state.)  Among these towns is the coastal town of Tolchester Beach.  It is a peaceful quiet town with a few houses with the beach.  The only sites in the town are the Kent County Agricultural Center and the Caulks Field Battlefield Memorial where a battle in the War of 1812 took place.  Tolchester Beach is a quiet town where the only noise heard is the waters of the Chesapeake Bay splash on the beach.

Some of you are saying, “This is very lovely.  I love quiet small towns especially beach towns.  The problem is that the is no railroad here.  Therefore, I will find no peace and quiet with this town.

The town of Tolchester Beach, Maryland, simply called Tolchester today, except for events at the Kent County Agricultural Center, has been a quiet and peaceful town… since 1962.

Some of you are saying, “What do you mean by ‘since 1962’?”

The peace town you see today was not peaceful and quiet from 1877 to 1962.  The town known today as Tolchester was a bustling amusement park.  What amusement park?  The Tolchester Beach Amusement Park.  Steamboats brought people from Baltimore and other towns to Tolchester Beach, and they played games, they watched shows, ate food, and rode the rides.  I know.  Most amusement parks have games, shows, food, and rides, but one of the main attractions of the park was the miniature steam train.  They stood in line to ride the steam train around the loop.  When the park was closed in 1962, everything, including the train, was no more.  (The train was sold off.  It is currently unknown where it is today.

Today, when you take a drive through Tolchester, Maryland, you see houses, a marina, the fairgrounds, and the small beach at the end of Maryland Route 21.  There are no signs of an amusement park or of a miniature train.  It is a peaceful and quiet little place on the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay.

If you would like to see photos of the park, you can go to the ‘Tolchester Beach Amusement Park Tolchester Maryland’ Facebook page where you can also read more into the history of the park itself.