Highland Beach, MD

Highland Beach is an Anne Arundel County town on the Chesapeake Bay, founded in 1893 by Major Charles Douglass, son of Frederick Douglass, and his wife Laura. By 1894 Charles had built the first cottage, creating a shoreline retreat for family and friends on 600 feet of beachfront. Frederick Douglass died in 1895 before the summer home his son was building for him was complete, but the town's name remained tied to the Douglass family and its place in Maryland history.

Highland Beach incorporated in 1922, becoming the first African American municipality in Maryland. Its history includes visitors and residents such as Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, and Alex Haley. The town grew from a summer resort into a place with both seasonal and year-round residents, while its shoreline and small collection of homes retain the original pattern. About eighty homes remain, many still owned or occupied by descendants of the people who established the town. Highland Beach's local story is written across the bay, the cottages, and the names that mark its streets.