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Crystal Beach (also known as White Crystal Beach) is an
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in
Cecil County Cecil County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland at the northeastern corner of the state, bordering both Pennsylvania and Delaware. As of the 2020 census, the population was 103,725. The county seat is Elkton. The county was ...
,
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, United States. Crystal Beach is a partnership between two brothers of the Green family. Kenneth "Gene" Eugene Green and Alfred "Dickie" Ernest Green (1933–2010). The community is inhabited seasonally with the majority of its inhabitants calling the
Delaware Valley The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...
area their home. There are many large families there who have been frequenting the small private beach community for generations. Within the past five years, a small group of members have begun to coordinate events for the community to help raise funds to improve the quality of life at the small resort area. It is a prime location for boating and sunbathing. White Crystal Beach was founded in the mid-1930s by Alfred Ernest Green and his wife Ethel Pearsey Green at the site of Reybold's Wharf. The Green family had formerly owned a traveling carnival, then small amusement parks in
Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
,
Penns Grove, New Jersey Penns Grove is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Salem County, New Jersey, Salem County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 5,147,Charlestown, Maryland Charlestown is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The population was 1,183 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History Charlestown is the location of Charlestown Historic District and Indian Queen T ...
. The Green family created a summer-only, private rental resort on the Elk River and named it "White Crystal Beach". The Green family built bathhouses, a dance hall, beer garden, bowling alley, and even a tattoo parlor. Children's amusement park rides and an antique merry-go-round were brought from the
traveling carnival A traveling carnival (US English), usually simply called a carnival, or travelling funfair (UK English), is an amusement show that may be made up of amusement rides, food vendors, merchandise vendors, games of chance and skill, thrill acts, ...
, and a few dozen simple wooden cottages were built as rental units. Ernest and Ethel brought in their son Kenneth Green (wife Edna) and daughter Ella Green Crump to help run the concessions and manage the business. Eventually they were joined by their grandchildren, William, Dorcas, and Alfred Crump, along with "Gene", "Dickie", "Betty", and "Margie" Green, who all worked in various aspects of the family business. Alfred Ernest Green died in the late 1940s, and the management was passed on to his son Kenneth Green. The early 1950s brought some changes with damage from
Hurricane Hazel Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest, second costliest, and most intense hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed at least 469 people in Haiti before striking the United States near the border between North and South ...
in 1954, and a devastating fire in 1955. Ethel Green and her daughter Ella Green Crump Spence bought the farm property abutting the northern property line to renovate for their retirement, but Ella died in 1957, and Ethel retired to her second home in Florida, where she died in 1959. The farm property was passed to Ella's children and became "Elkview Shores". White Crystal Beach was then owned by Kenneth and Edna Green and managed with the help of their two sons, Kenneth "Gene" Green and Alfred "Dickie" Green.E.A. Barclay Alfred "Dickie" Green died in January 2010.


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https://www.ccgov.org/Home/Components/BusinessDirectory/BusinessDirectory/1054/154 Unincorporated communities in Cecil County, Maryland Unincorporated communities in Maryland Maryland populated places on the Chesapeake Bay Beaches of Maryland {{CecilCountyMD-geo-stub