Chesapeake Beach

Railway museum to offer summer youth programs The Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum will present "Summer Fun" programs for children of various age groups on Thursdays through Aug. 12. The museum is at 4155 Mears Ave., Chesapeake Beach. Groups larger than five people must call in advance. Each program will include light refreshments and activities to take home. Children can enjoy poems, songs, stories and games that celebrate the days of railroading and early resort life in Chesapeake Beach.

What would become of Wesley Stinnett's restaurant? In the weeks after Tropical Storm Isabel swept through, the question lingered in the salty air over Chesapeake Beach. Everyone, it seemed, had a theory about the fate of the cozy, 67-year-old bayside diner, its interior destroyed by flooding from the storm. It was not until this month, after much deliberation, that brothers Gerald and Fred Donovan came to a difficult decision. So difficult, Gerald Donovan said, that they could not deliver the news in person.

Otto Mears had big plans for the resort he was building on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The financier envisioned a lavish place with waterfront hotels, casinos and boardwalk rides that rivaled Coney Island and Atlantic City. To ensure that people could reach his Calvert County entertainment mecca, he built a railroad to Washington and constructed a pier to accommodate steamboats from Baltimore. The first train chugged into Chesapeake Beach on June 9, 1900. That same year, plats were drawn up for a second town just to the north, aptly named North Beach.

Craig Michael Fitzpatrick, a maritime carpenter, died Sunday of liver disease at Calvert Memorial Hospital in Prince Frederick. The Chesapeake Beach resident was 51. Born in Baltimore, Mr. Fitzpatrick was raised in Bel Air and Rehoboth Beach, Del., where he graduated from high school in 1971. He was a waiter at Rehoboth's Henlopen Hotel and the Dinner Bell Inn before becoming a boat builder and maritime carpenter. About 20 years ago, he earned a diploma at the WoodenBoat School in Brooklin, Maine.

When Dawn Delahanty and her husband decided to make the move from Waldorf, which they found to be a bit too crowded, their trek took them from Gaithersburg to St. Mary's County. Then, in the summer of 2000 after a two-year search, they found a three-bedroom split-foyer on 2.5 acres in Calvert County's quaint Chesapeake Beach. The Delahantys knew they had found their new home even before they went inside. "When we pulled up to the house, all of the neighbors came out and introduced themselves," she said.

CHESAPEAKE BEACH - Search efforts resumed yesterday in the Chesapeake Bay for a Bladensburg man and his stepdaughter, missing after a 16-foot boat capsized and sank a mile east of this northern Calvert County community. Using a sonar-equipped boat, helicopters and divers, rescuers searched for Gregory Whitaker, 24, and Lauryn Greenhill, 7, who were aboard the vessel Sunday afternoon when it began taking on water and having engine trouble, said Heather Lynch, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Natural Resources.

Rescuers combed the waters off Chesapeake Beach in northern Calvert County yesterday searching for a 24-year-old man and his 7-year-old stepdaughter who were reported missing after a boat capsized, Maryland Department of Natural Resources officials reported. Five people were aboard the 16-foot fiberglass vessel when it began taking on water and having engine trouble shortly after 1:30 p.m., said DNR spokeswoman Heather Lynch. It capsized about a mile east of Chesapeake Beach. Three of the boaters -- Hendrix Stevens, 43, of Hyattsville and his 12- and 14-year-old daughters -- were rescued from the 72-degree water by a passing boater, Coast Guard officials said in a statement.

CHESAPEAKE BEACH - There's nothing like witnessing a good deed or two to restore one's faith in regular folks. On Tuesday morning, about 100 people gathered on the dock at the Rod and Reel marina to do a little fishing and help fill the freezers at the Southern Maryland Food Bank. The "Fishing to Feed the Needy" program began 13 years ago, when members of the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen's Association and the Rod & Reel Charter Captains Association decided to combine their talents for charity.

CHESAPEAKE BEACH - This is the story of a place that was dark around the holidays and pretty down on itself until somebody very jolly came to town. Not Santa Claus, but "Mother Christmas." Jo Finch - she's 73 with snowy white hair - arrived in Chesapeake Beach 13 years ago. This community of 3,500, 20 miles south of Annapolis on the Chesapeake Bay, was still feeling sorry for itself at the time. The town's economy and spirit were battered when the state banned gambling in 1968. For years, slot machines had made this place tick, and it hadn't found itself again.

Coast Guard finds body of man in fishing nets The body of a Montgomery County man was recovered from fishing nets in southern Anne Arundel County by Coast Guard rescue personnel late yesterday after his boat was found adrift near Chesapeake Beach, according to state Natural Resources Police. Walter Jarvis, 66, of the 3700 block of Jones Bridge Road in Chevy Chase, was pronounced dead about 5:30 p.m. A spokesman for the Natural Resources Police said the Coast Guard found Jarvis' cabin cruiser drifting near Chesapeake Beach.