Chesapeake Beach, MD very interesting little town! in the early 1900's The Chesapeake Beach Railway Company rain a train between Washington DC and Chesapeake Beach. The closest way people in DC could get to the Beach. There was a boardwalk with a over the water wooden roller coaster " The Great Derby" and the beautiful Belvedere Hotel, ( one of the old wooden hotels much like The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, MI ) and a salt water pool. They are looking to reconstruct the old resort currently. In 1935 due to bankruptcy forced the railroad to close.