[6] Colonial Beach was a popular resort town in the early to mid-20th century, before the Chesapeake Bay Bridge made ocean beaches on the Eastern Shore of Maryland more accessible to visitors from Washington, D.C.

Sloan Wilson, author of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, retired and died in Colonial Beach.

[7] Judging by excavations done on oyster pits, it would seem that Native Americans have inhabited the area of modern-day Colonial Beach since at least the Early Woodland Period (500 B.C.- A.D.

[9] Colonial Beach emerged as a bathing and fishing resort in the late 19th century known as the "Playground on the Potomac."

Prior to automobile travel, most visitors arrived by boat from Washington, D.C.[10] The town was incorporated on February 25, 1892, and there was extensive construction of houses, summer cottages, and hotels.

[11] The town began to gradually decline as the automobile made travel to more distant ocean beaches more feasible.

This temporarily revitalized the town, although it was sometimes called "the poor man's Las Vegas.

Colonial Beach is located at 38°15′14″N 76°58′8″W / 38.25389°N 76.96889°W / 38.25389; -76.96889 (38.253840, −76.968941),[14] in the northwestern part of Westmoreland County in Virginia's Northern Neck, 65 mi (105 km) from Washington, D.C., and 70 mi (110 km) from the state capital Richmond.

The Potomac River forms the northeast boundary of Colonial Beach.

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.