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Colonial Beach is a town in Westmoreland County, Virginia, United States. The population was 3,542 at the 2010 census. Possessing the second-largest beachfront in the state, Colonial Beach was a popular resort town in the early to mid-20th century, before the Chesapeake Bay Bridge made ocean beaches on the Eastern Shore of Maryland more accessible to visitors from Washington, D.C. The family of Alexander Graham Bell maintained a summer home in Colonial Beach, the Bell House, which still stands today. Sloan Wilson, author of ''The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit'', retired and died in Colonial Beach. George Washington, the first President of the United States, was born near here at what is now the George Washington Birthplace National Monument. , the James Monroe Family Home Site, birthplace of President James Monroe, now has a small monument to him. A museum is planned for the future.〔Leggitt, Richard, "Blues Fest" Brings Thousands to the Beach," The Westmoreland Journal, 26 June 2013〕 ==History== The town was first settled in 1650 by the great-great grandfather of President James Monroe, as Monrovia.〔William J. Burnham, Mary K. Burnham, Bill Burnham. ''Rediscovering America: Exploring the Small Towns of Virginia and Maryland''. Hunter Publishing, 2003. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-58843-319-0〕 Colonial Beach emerged as a bathing and fishing resort in the late 19th century known as the "Playground on the Potomac." Prior to automobile travel, most visitors arrived by boat from Washington, D.C.〔(Town of Colonial Beach: History ) at the official town website. Retrieved 5 November 2008.〕 The town was incorporated on 25 February 1892 and there was extensive construction of houses, summer cottages, and hotels. Arguably the most famous of these structures is the Alexander Graham Bell house which still stands on Irving Avenue as the Bell House Bed and Breakfast.〔 The area was at the center of the Potomac River Oyster Wars between Virginia watermen and the Maryland State Oyster Police that lasted from the late 19th century to the 1960s.〔William J. Burnham, Mary K. Burnham, Bill Burnham. ''Rediscovering America: Exploring the Small Towns of Virginia and Maryland''. Hunter Publishing, 2003. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-58843-319-0〕 The town began to gradually decline as the automobile made travel to more distant ocean beaches more feasible. However, because gambling was legal in Maryland and the Maryland state line ends at the low-water mark of Virginia's Potomac River shore, from 1949〔"Slots on Piers Evade Law In Virginia." ''Washington Post''. 23 July 1949.〕 to 1958,〔"Supreme Court Refuses to Review Maryland Ban on Potomac Casinos." ''Washington Post''. 25 February 1959.〕 Colonial Beach offered slot machines in pier casinos extending into Maryland waters. This temporarily revitalized the town although it was sometimes called "the poor man's Las Vegas."〔 However, the piers burned in the 1960s in a devastating fire and the town continued to decline.〔 The town is ranked fifth safest place to live in Virginia by Safewise. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Colonial Beach, Virginia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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