Columbia Beach, Faye Belt

Faye Belt is a long time resident of Columbia Beach community in Shady Side, Maryland and former President of the Columbia Beach Citizens Improvement Association, which has been critical in persevering the heritage of this unique community on the Chesapeake Bay.  In 1940, a group of African American families began building summer homes in the area and established their new community as Columbia Beach in 1941. These families, like so many others who flocked to Shady Side at that time, wanted a waterside retreat from their homes in nearby Washington and Baltimore.

Despite their status as doctors, lawyers, and government executives, these families were barred from other communities in the area because of the racial segregation that persisted in the nation at that time.