The Echoes of Carr's Beach

Edgewood Road which brings you into Chesapeake Harbour is in the process of being renamed "Carr's Beach Road", and the City of Annapolis is considering making a five acre parcel of land where Carr's beach was into a memorial park. During the 1950's and early 60's, Anne Arundel County was still segregated. There were only two beaches that Blacks were allowed to use, and they were Carr's Beach and Sparrow's Beach in Annapolis, both located where Chesapeake Harbour stands today.
During the week, the beaches were used for friends and families to get together and visit, cook out and swim. On weekends, however, the beaches became the place for people from all over the Baltimore/Washington area. That's when the adults would come to see stars such as Ray Charles, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder and many others. Sunday afternoons at 3:00 p.m., it was show time, and people would pack into the pavilion to listen and dance to the music of Major R&B stars of the day, who's voices and music could be heard throughout the area for miles. There was Little Richard, James Brown, Lloyd Price, Etta James, The Shirelles, The Coasters, The Drifters and Fats Domino, just to name a few. ALL the great names came to Carr's Beach.
Over the years, I got to know one of the resident's, Annie Crawford, who resided in the cottages during that era and lived directly behind my condo, and she said they could STILL can hear the music on late Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday morning all summer long ... the music of times gone by; a great era that should be preserved for her and all those who were a part of that great time.