Artifact Spotlight

Scott’s Ocean House (1869-1894)

“It is very doubtful if there ever was more genuine, more real pleasure experienced anywhere, or by anybody, than by the patrons of “Scott’s Beach.” - Democratic Messenger, 1906

In 1869, Isaac Coffin welcomed the first vacationers to his Rhode Island Inn. The inn was built on a narrow strip of barrier island, which we now know as Ocean City.

The same year, Captain James Scott opened Ocean House Hotel on Scott’s Landing, just four miles north of the Virginia line. The hotel was in popular demand during the late-1800s. Scott’s Ocean House had 20 bedrooms, a lobby, a bar, a kitchen, and a bowling alley. The guests would travel to Snow Hill by stagecoach, schooners, steamboats, and in later years, by train. It is said that a small wagon would carry the guests to Public Landing, and then they would board the sailing sloop “Fairfield” for a cruise across the bay to Scott’s Landing.

The Ocean House would start its season in mid-June and end in September. The guests would pay anywhere from $1.50-$1.75 per day or $7.00-$11.00 per week, and the dining room was well known for its fresh seafood from local waters. For entertainment, there was a ballroom where musicians played nightly, and during the day, guests could travel to the beach in oxcarts or visit the Green Run Life-Saving Station to watch the surfmen practice rescues.

Capt. Scott added to the hotel over the years, boasting accommodations for 250 guests, but it eventually closed around 1894. The hotel was razed in the early 1900s, and nothing remains today of the beloved vacation resort.

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