Destination was popular resort during era of segregation
Carr
By Mary Gail Hare (The Baltimore Sun, October 13, 2011)
Decades ago, a trip to segregated Ocean City presented far too many challenges for African-American families. Instead they went to a sandy peninsula near Annapolis, known as “the beach,” for a day’s outing.
Carr’s Beach — its proper name — offered swimming, picnics and entertainment. Many recall performances by up-and-coming stars such as Louis Armstrong, James Brown and Ray Charles, who, while touring on the Chitlin’ Circuit, stopped at Carr’s, one of the few local venues open to black entertainers of that time.
“I remember it was the closest we could get to the water,” said Delores McIntyre, 79, a lifelong city resident. “The water was so clear and there was great entertainment, especially Ray Charles.”
Carr’s Beach prospered for about 50 years before it closed in the early 1970s. Condos have long since replaced the stage, picnic pavilions and ball fields at the popular bayside resort. Until recently, it was mainly documented in photographs and memories.
Now a 70-year-old film has resurfaced that could offer families another way to relive their traditions. As part of what they call the Carr’s Beach Identification Project, two Baltimoreans hope to use the film to elicit and document recollections of the resort where the Severn River meets theChesapeake Bay.
Caldwell McMillan, a teacher in Baltimore who spent much of his childhood at the resort where his parents were employed, found five rolls of film on eBay. He bought them for $680 and made them into a DVD.
“I had to have it,” he said. “It is part of my history and the history of African-Americans in this area. I was lucky enough to find it and bring it home.”
The 80-minute, unedited film shows annual company beach outings for the Mutual Benefits Society’s employees. McMillan and colleague Thom Saunders showed the film Thursday at the Walbrook branch library, hoping their guests, all of them seniors, might help put names to the figures in the film.
“Blacks from all over came to Carr’s,” said Saunders, who owns a production company and conducts historic tours of Baltimore. “They could not go anywhere else — not Sandy Point or Ocean City.”
In 1955, after a five-year court battle initiated by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Supreme Court ruled that all Maryland’s beaches should be desegregated. The decision gave all residents access to public beaches.
But McMillan and Saunders said the past should not be forgotten.
“Despite all the negatives, a lot of positives came out of that time,” said Saunders. “Many of us have fond memories of growing up in the black community. Yes, we were segregated, but we didn’t know any better.”
McIntyre, who attended the filming Thursday night, recalled bus excursions to the beach from Pennsylvania Avenue.
“There were no fans or air conditioners then,” she said. “It was so great to get out of that hot house and go to the beach.”
Carr's Beach map
*** More on Carr’s Beach ***
Ella Fitzgerald at Carr's Beach
Sarah Vaughan at Carr's Beach
“Remembering Al Brown (1929-2009)“
In an article celebrating the life of Baltimore musician Al Brown (“The Madison”), the August-September-October 2009 issue of the Blues Art Journal referenced Brown’s gigs with his band the Tunetoppers at Carr’s Beach, where stars like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan also performed:
Locally, aside from the Royal Theatre, there was also another uniquely summertime venue considered as part of the national “Chitlin’ Circuit,” Carr’s Beach in Anne Arundel County. Located at the mouth of the Severn River off Edgewood Road on the peninsula across Back Creek from Annapolis’ Eastport district, Carr’s Beach was home of the concert series “Bandstand on the Beach,” which was hosted live over WANN-AM (one of the first stations in the U.S with a black oriented format) by legendary disk jockey, Hoppy Adams. Moreover, the site (now the Villages of Chesapeake Harbour condominiums), a blacks only, 20 acre resort and amusement park, had an open air dance pavilion which could accommodate several hundred people. Although this sprawling complex was owned by a consortium of Afro-American businessmen in Baltimore, it was overseen by the late producer (Ru-Jac records), Rufus Mitchell, who was longtime a major mover and shaker in the Baltimore music scene. “Yeah, we appeared a few times at Carr’s Beach, especially after our hit record, but we had our own favorite Sunday afternoon spot and built in fan base for years at Beachwood Park. It was run by a Reverend Smith and down the same neck of the woods [in Pasadena on the Magothy River]. What I remember most, though, is coming home and being stuck in traffic on [Governor] Ritchie Highway and wondering if we were ever going to make our Sunday night gig,” said Charles with a chuckle. (Larry Benicewiz, Baltimore Blues Society)
Gone But Not Forgotten
This popular and often requested Maryland Public Television documentary, narrated by columnist Dan Rodricks, takes a nostalgic look back at places in the Maryland region that are physically “gone but not forgotten” in memory.
A segment on Carr’s Beach is included, as well as Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre, Baltimore’s streetcars, Carr’s Beach in Annapolis, White Tower Restaurants, Royal Theatre, Pimlico Hotel, Gwynn Oak and Carlin Amusement Parks. (Maryland Public Television, original production 1994, 60 minutes)
MPT sells this DVD for $50 dollars.
Audiovisual Links:
Watch a clip from Caldwell McMillan’s Carr’s Beach film. (Courtesy Baltimore Sun)
Listen to this 1966 Carr’s Beach commercial set to a vintage photo montage.
Related Links:
Carr’s Beach.com