Not all steamboats were designed for serious work. From the earliest days of the steamboat, excursion boats accommodated passengers seeking a pleasurable jaunt across local waters, but in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, steamboats strengthened their association with recreation. Amusement parks and bathing resorts grew in popularity during this period, and steamboat companies seized the opportunity to promote greater use of excursion boats, linking these excursions with recreation areas along the shores of the Chesapeake. In 1878, the Tolchester Steamboat Company was incorporated to capitalize on the public interest in amusement parks. In 1887, a related company, the Tolchester Beach Improvement Company was formed to develop a resort at the Tolchester Steamboat Company property at Tolchester Beach in Kent County. This resort on the Sassafras River started with a hotel, restaurant, bathhouses, some amusement park attractions, and picnic grounds. After completion of this first set of features, the resort was heavily advertised in Baltimore. The effort quickly paid off, and Tolchester Beach became a popular destination for Baltimoreans. Within a few years, the appeal of a bay cruise, bayside beach, amusement park, and picnic grove drew crowds from all areas of the region. With business growing through the turn of the century, the company continued to add attractions, including "the most fearsome roller coaster on the Bay," and a reduced scale steam railroad that proved as popular with adults as it was with children. For those looking for extended vacations rather than weekend get-a-ways, Tolchester steamboats included a stop further up the Sassafras River,at the resort town of Betterton.


1885 - A Trip to Tolchester Beach on Louise

If you were a white, middle class child living in Baltimore in 1885, you might have taken a trip aboard the steamboat Louise. Louise was an excursion steamboat - a boat especially designed to take vacationers to a destination a few hours away. The destination Louise steamed to in 1885 was an amusement park directly across the Bay from Baltimore called Tolchester Beach. Many Black children also vacationed by travelling on-board steamboats to amusement parks. However, amusement parks were segregated until the 1960's. A destination favored by Blacks in Baltimore was Brown's Grove. Brown's Grove was owned and operated by Black people. Not very much information is known about Brown's Grove because many people focused only on history of white people between the 1880's and the present.

About 2,500 passengers could ride on Louise to Tolchester Beach at one time. These passengers each paid 50 cents for their round trip tickets. When they reached the amusement park, they purchased more tickets for rides like a Ferris wheel, games of chance, and vaudeville shows. Some amusement parks even had dancing bears. The same company that owned the steamboat operated these attractions. It took many crew members to run Louise. There was the captain, his first mate, and his second mate. These men were responsible for giving the correct orders to the men who worked the controls for moving and steering the boat. The captain's orders were carried out by the workleader and his two helpers, who were called deckhands. These men handled the lines when the boat was docking and helped steer the boat when she was underway. The captain also relied on the chief engineer. The engineer usually had about 3 helpers. These men kept the engines running. Then there were coal shovelers. There were usually three men whose job was to supply the boat with a constant stream of coal, so that her boiler could keep producing steam. There were also workers on the boat to serve the passengers. You could buy dinner on the boat as well as lemonade and ice cream. About 30 people worked on the boat serving passengers food and making sure they were comfortable.

Once you arrived at Tolchester Beach, if you were a child, you would have been asked to dash off the boat at the earliest possible moment so that you could race to the "picnic grove" and save the best picnic table for your family. You would save the table by sitting on it. Your family would follow you in a slower fashion carrying baskets full of fried chicken, lemonade, pies, and other wonderful things to eat. Your family would spend the day picnicking and enjoying the rides.

There was a merry-go-round with hand carved animals, a very mild roller coaster (or "inclined railway" as they were called in 1885), and swings built out over the water. You might have bought a treat of cotton candy or won a canary in a game of chance. But when evening came, you would once again board Louise and steam back to Baltimore under the light of the moon and the stars.



The original plan was to connect the steamship line with a railroad being built across Kent County. The county railroad was to connect Tolchester with the Smyrna & Delaware Railroad. Unfortunately the railroad went bankrupt and never found its way to Tolchester. In the absence of the railroad, a new plan had to be devised by Ambrewster, Taggart, and Eliason to utilize the boats, the land and docking facilities in Tolchester and the docking facilities leased in Baltimore.

The year 1877 saw the opening of an amusement park on ten acres of land, a somewhat primitive park, under the supervision of Captain Eliason. The resort included picnic grounds with tables, a few concessions, a bath house, a hand propelled merry-go-round, and a hand organ pulled by a goat. Thus was the beginning of the most popular beach resort along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, destined to provide entertainment and fond lifelong memories to millions of patrons during the next eighty-five years. Tolchester Beach, in its prime, expanded to 155 acres and was serviced by six steamers and a ferry. Happy visitors stayed at the great summer hotel on the top of the bluff. Here were to be found a dance hall, a roller coaster, bowling alleys, a bingo parlor, a roller skating rink, the whip, dodgems, pony and goat carts, boat rides, a miniature steam train named Jumbo, novelty and candy shops, and popcorn, ice cream, hot dogs and kewpie doll stands.

At its height, Tolchester Beach attracted as many as 20,000 visitors a weekend from across the bay an the Eastern Shore. After flourishing for eight-five years, Tolchester Beach passed from the scene, finally closing in 1962.



CREDITS:Excerpts:Historical Society of Cecil County--Maryland Historical Society--Some papers note 'Maryland with Pride Organization..




CREDIT:Maryland Historical Society