Twenty-four hours is not enough time to explore all that Colonial Beach has to offer.
I realized that on a recent visit as I was leaving town and making note of what I’d missed seeing and doing. The tiny Westmoreland County town packs a ton of fun into its 2.8 square miles: nightlife, shopping, dining, history, water activities, even gambling. It’s all there to enjoy.
And on a weekend afternoon and evening, the Beach turns into the Nashville of the Northern Neck, with music at almost every stop along the waterfront.
Like most beach towns, the population of Colonial Beach explodes during the summer months.
“A lot of folks found us last year [during COVID-19],” said Colonial Beach Chamber of Commerce president Carey Geddes. “From May through September, we were slam-packed every single weekend. And we’re thinking about 25% of those that found us will keep coming back.”
Throughout the spring, summer and fall, the Beach has a full calendar of events to help draw tourists and weekenders. But even on what locals called a “non-event weekend” a few weeks ago, the town’s over-two-miles of beaches Virginia.
“We’re a heck of a lot closer than having to go to Ocean City or Virginia Beach and a lot cheaper,” said Geddes. “As busy as we are every day, on an event weekend—say, like the Potomac River Festival weekend or Bikefest— well, those weekends are like Lollapalooza.”
According to exhibits at the Colonial Beach Museum, the town began as a bathing and fishing resort in the 19th century. With an ideal location on the Potomac River, its visitors often arrived by boat, and it was during the latter part of the century when the town became known as the Playground on the Potomac. The tiny peninsula is ideally situated between the Potomac on the east and Monroe Bay to the southwest.
Geddes said the most recent reports have the population at about 5,000 full-time residents, but he estimates that number is now closer to 6,000. “The town has exploded,” he said. “You can’t find a house here.”
Over the last year, the town has seen an increase in new businesses. The chamber has 180 members. A few years ago, that membership was at 130. Recently, the chamber held three grand opening ribbon-cuttings in three weeks, said Geddes.
“We missed a lot of things, a lot of our usual events, last year,” he said. “But we have a lot of exciting things happening this year. “In years past, the town shut down and the sidewalks rolled up after Labor Day,” said Geddes. “That’s not how it is now.”
The Chamber schedules events year-round with a Northern Neck Beach Music Festival in September, the Bikefest in October, Rockfish Tournament in November and a Winter Wonderland in December.
Our Getaway
My husband and I stayed in Colonial Beach on a rainy weekend a few years ago and vowed to return. As good a time as we had on a rainy weekend, we imagined it would offer even more to do on a sunny one. So last month, on a hot, humid weekend, we were able to book the last available room at the Riverview Inn for a couples’ getaway.
I’d stayed at one of the Beach’s other hotels in the past, but was always curious about Riverview, with its nostalgic vibe and bright colors of aqua and red. Kelly Vaughn and her husband, Bob, bought the 21-room inn in 2017 and did a complete remodel of the rooms. Each now has its own nautical theme with hand-painted furniture and wall hangings to match. There’s the mermaid room, the shell room, and the turtle room. Ours was the surfing room.
There are numerous lodging choices, including eight motels and bed & breakfasts, along with dozens of rental cottages in the tiny town. After checking in and chatting with Kelly, we ventured to the bustling boardwalk and beach. The laughter and chatter of children playing in the water was cut briefly by the distinctive, melodic chimes of an ice cream truck. In fact, to curb any sweet tooth, there is ice cream at almost every turn in Colonial Beach.
Along with the roving trucks of cold deliciousness, there are several ice cream shops throughout town. Nancy’s Ice Cream Shoppe on Washington Avenue is among the oldest. Then there’s Willey’s Road Stove on the boardwalk, which I also understood from Kelly serves a tasty barbecue. The new Raven’s Point is another barbecue and ice cream place. And there’s the new kid in town, the Ice Cream Hut, which opened Memorial Day weekend on Colonial Avenue.
The hut, which serves hand-dipped Jack & Jill Ice Cream, is where I chose to indulge on a scoop each of strawberry cheesecake and creamy chocolate. As we lounged in the cooling shadow of the tiki hut, enjoying the refreshing misting fans and watching a group of kids playing a yard game, we saw dozens of families roll by on their golf carts en route to the beach.
Colonial Beach is a golf cart town with several places to rent them by the hour, day, weekend or week. They’re the easiest and most convenient way to get around town, according to Kathie Moran, volunteer at the Colonial Beach Museum. We caught the museum on its first day open in over a year due to the pandemic. There are four exhibit rooms in the building on Hawthorn Street, which has served as everything from a doctor’s office to general store. A wall in the waterman’s room tells the tale of one of the building’s former businesses. Etched in the wall are hundreds of names and initials, scratched there many years ago by folks waiting to place a call when the building served as a phone company.
The museum promotes a scavenger hunt of historical sites within the town boundaries. A flyer lists the buildings and brief descriptions for hunters to find.
Just down the street, we found Erin O’Donnell waiting on customers in the new Hawthorn Mercantile gift and decor store. The Mercantile, owned by Susan Driscoll and Lee Blount, is one of the new businesses in town. It opened May 1 and joins dozens of other knickknack, antique and gift shops. One of the most interesting is Compulsive Cravings, a two story what-not shop busting at the seams on Colonial Avenue. It bills itself as an antique store, but it’s so much more. If you can’t find it there, it probably doesn’t exist.
Of course, no trip to Colonial Beach is complete without a stop at the Riverboat on the Potomac. My coffers are low, but I still couldn’t pass up a game of Keno—Maryland lottery—in the gaming, off-track betting and event center. Formerly Old Reno, the Riverboat sits out over the Potomac, which allowed gamblers to enjoy Maryland betting long before it was legal in Virginia. It’s been a draw to the Beach for decades. The building, along with most of the Colonial Beach boardwalk, was destroyed by Hurricane Isabel in 2003, but the Flanagans rebuilt it bigger and better.
Dining and Dancing
After a drive around the Point for picturesque views of the Potomac and Monroe Bay at one of Colonial Beach’s seven marinas, we were thirsty for an adult beverage and ventured into Colonial Beach Brewing, where we found the Dave “Smitty” Smith Band beginning to play. It was hard to pull away from the music and atmosphere at the brewery, but there was so much more to explore and hear, including the It’s All Good Band at the Black Pearl Tiki Bar at High Tides on the Potomac. The full service restaurant on the boardwalk was rockin’. At the Point, at the Tiki Bar at Dockside, we found another band and hundreds more enjoying an evening outside on the waterfront. Dockside is also a full service restaurant with an outdoor lounge and bar area. Dockside’s unique seating options include a few old boats and some hammock chairs—but come early if you want a seat.
On Sunday afternoon, we stumbled on a band and patrons enjoying food and drinks on the quaint patio at the Tides Inn Market, adjacent to the Tides Inn Bed & Breakfast.
My husband and I were disappointed to find that one of our favorite restaurants, Denson’s, was no longer offering inside seating. The farm-to-table restaurant, oyster bar and gourmet grocery is a must stop on any trip to the beach.
For such a small town, Colonial Beach is a foodie’s delight with Thai, French, Chinese, Italian and American cuisine. Of course, there’s also sea- food, fresh out of the river. Wilkerson’s Seafood Restaurant has been a staple for over 60 years with four generations working in the seafood and steak restaurant.
Lenny’s on Colonial Avenue has also been a family-owned restaurant for 43 years. Opened by Lenny Skeens in 1978, his stepdaughter Brandy Robinson and her son now operate the breakfast and lunch diner. It was packed with patrons Sunday morning when we arrived for a late breakfast. As table after table of patrons departed, I heard them say, “see you tomorrow.” It’s that kind of place.
The menu includes breakfast entrees, along with sandwiches, burgers, baskets and seafood and steak. I wanted breakfast; my husband wanted lunch. That wasn’t a problem, assured our waitress. “If it’s on the menu, it’s available. If you want a steak at 6 a.m., you get a steak.”
Heading out of town, I spotted a sign for an escape room and made a quick U-turn. Colonial Beach Games, which opened April 1, is a new, great option for beachgoers on a rainy day, or any day. It includes arcade games, pool tables, pinball machines, a snack bar and two escape rooms, themed The Office and The Diner.
And just to include a little education on a fun getaway, we stopped outside of town at the James Monroe Birthplace, where volunteers in the visitor’s center told me about the anticipated opening of the replica of Monroe’s colonial home. Painting and furnishing is in progress. For now, the birthplace has a visitor’s center open on weekends through the summer. It’s just one of several stops I need to make on my return trip.
