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History

In August of 1927, forty-two citizens of Kent and Queen Anne’s counties gathered at the Court House in Chestertown and took the first steps toward forming a Country Club in Kent County. The Collins farm, located one mile from Chestertown, on Quaker Neck Road, was being considered as the location. The club would have a clubhouse, golf links, tennis courts, a bathing beach, a pier and bathhouses. The Chester River Yacht Club fostered the movement to establish this club. The Collins Farm, which consisted of 55 acres with 700 feet of waterfront on the Chester River, was purchased in October of 1927. Various committees were appointed, including a constitution and bylaws committee. Those present planned for yacht activities to begin in the spring of 1928. Mr. Alexander Findlay, a golf course architect connected with the golf department of John Wanamaker, Philadelphia, visited the site of the proposed golf course. Mr. Findlay, widely known as the Father of American golf, laid out the new golf course and construction work began in November 1927. One hundred shares of stock were sold to begin the Chester River Yacht & Country Club of Chestertown. Some $30,000 was raised through the sale of the stock, and the other financing was used to build the 9-hole golf course, a wooden clubhouse (built by Duyer Brothers Contractors, Chestertown), and two tennis courts (located behind the Clubhouse where the cart shed is located now–they were removed in 1935). When the wooden Chester River Bridge was dismantled, its wood was floated down the river, and a fourteen-slip pier in front of the clubhouse was created. The Chester River Yacht & Country Club was officially incorporated December 9th, 1927. In 2022, some ninety years later, the CRY&CC offers an 18-hole regulation golf course, a driving range and putting green, a retail golf shop, three piers, dock bar, a clubhouse with a restaurant and ballroom, a swimming pool, and two bocce courts.