Living in Chesapeake Beach, MD

Chesapeake Beach Town Hall

Thinking of living or moving to Chesapeake Beach, MD? I am biased since I call the town my home; but it's a great little community. It's about 45 minutes from Capitol Hill and 20 to 30 minutes from Andrews AFB. About 5800 people call Chesapeake Beach home. The bayside town has a community beach, water park and Railway Museum and Trail.

Chesapeake Beach Railroad

Source Library of Congress

The town became a resort location in the early twentieth century. It was a short ride on the Chesapeake Beach Railway from DC. Baltimore steam ships also brought weekend vacationers to the area. The town thrived until the economic depression brought the end of the railroad. Families continued to vacation during the summer though.

With the building of the Bay Bridges in the 50's families started to go to the Eastern Shore for their getaways. Today, the town is home to vacationers who don't want to battle the traffic and year round residents. The homes are a mix of the old cottages and newer homes.

The town has a community beach called Brownies Beach. There is a small parking lot but that will get full quickly during the summer season. You can also reach the beach by taking the boardwalk that starts on 17th street. The boardwalk is a great place to take a walk or a jog. You can also just sit and relax on the benches and watch the ships go by.

On Fishing Creek you will find a second boardwalk, the Chesapeake Railroad Trail. The trail starts at the Marine West Marina and takes you past crab boats and Osprey Nests. This trail takes you to two main neighborhoods as well, Richfield Station and Bay View Hills.

Schools

Chesapeake Beach's elementary school is Beach Elementary. The school is located right on the main street of the town. The school has 10 acres that include nature trails. It is a Maryland Governor's Green School. There are about 500 students pre-k to 5th grade that go to school. The school is a big part of the community, holding the Wobble Gobble Run and performing at the town's holiday lighting celebration. 

The middle school is Windy Hill Middle School . About 700 students grades 6th through 8th. The school is located near by in Owings.  High schoolers also go to Owings for school. They attend  Northern High School. About 1500 kids go to the school. The school offers AP classes and about 44 percent of the students take AP classes.  Calvert county schools as a whole, rank #1 in the state of Maryland by U.S. News!

Search Rentals In Chesapeake Beach 

Grocery Stores

1.  Roland’s – Smaller grocery store & liquor store in the heart of Chesapeake Beach on Bayside Rd/Rt. 261, Shopping center is next to the Chesapeake Beach Resort. The store is known for it's country ham and potato salad. It also has a wide variety of craft beers and a great wine selection.

2. CVS - located in the same shopping center as Roland's.  

You will have to go to either Prince Frederick or Dunkirk for larger grocery stores. 

Dunkirk Stores

1.  Safeway, Dunkirk, MD – At the corner of Rt. 4 & Ward Rd. on the left going Rt. 4 North, there is also a Safeway in Prince Frederick on the right side, if you take Rt. 4 South,

2.  Giant, Dunkirk, MD – On Rt. 4, just past the light at Ward Rd. when going north on Rt. 4, it will be on the right.

3. Wal-Mart, Dunkirk, in the same shopping center as Giant.  There is also a Wal-Mart in Prince Frederick on the right side going Rt.-4 south. 

Prince Frederick Stores


1. Giant: This is about the same size as the Dunkirk store. From Chesapeake Beach, take Bayside road to route 4 South. This will take you into Prince Frederick. Giant is in the first shopping center past the Hospital.

2. K-Mart:  Same shopping center as the Giant in Prince Frederick

3. Food Lion: This is across Route 4 from Giant. It sit back off the road.

4. Safeway: This is farther south on Route 4. Its at the intersection with Dares Beach Road on the right had side. A TJMax is in the same parking lot.

5. Walmart: This one is larger than the one in Dunkirk. It's located on Route 4 south of the intersection of Dares Beach Road. There is a Wendy's in the parking lot.

Other Town Information:

If you live in the city limits, the cost of trash removal is a part of your yearly taxes. During the summer season, trash is picked up twice a week. The rest of the year it will be picked only once a week. There is also recycling in town. During the summer season that is picked up one a week. All other times, recycling is picked up every other week.  The Complete Schedule

Town of Chesapeake Beach

The town sends water bills every quarter. You can pay the charges on line. When you move in, you will need to call Town Hall to change over the name. The number is 410-257-2230.

The local cable company is Comcast Cable. They can be reached at 800-COMCAST.  You can pick-up your equipment at the Comcast office in Prince Frederick and do your own self-installation as opposed to having to wait for the cable guy.  If you choose to do this instead of calling Comcast, here are directions:

1.    Take a right onto Rt-260 toward town

2.    Turn right onto Rt-261/Bayside Rd and follow this down for about 6-7 miles.  Rt-261/Bayside will change to Rt-263/Plum Point Rd. automatically about half way down.  Just keep going straight until the road comes to an end at Rt.-4.

3.    Turn left at the light onto Rt.-4 South

4.    As you enter Prince Frederick, turn right onto Stoakley Rd.

5.    Turn right at the first light onto Prince Frederick Blvd. – Comcast is about ¼ mile down on your left.

The electric company is BGE a division of Constellation Energy Corporation; they can be reached at 800-685-0123.  Call BGE to have electricity put in your name

A lot of the older houses in the area have oil heat. Some also have propane. It's something to look for when you are thinking about the house. It is an added expense. There are several vendors in the area that will either fill up when you call or you can have it set up for an automatic refill. It all depends on what works best for you.