Greenbook: A Local Guide to Chesapeake Living - Issue 6 | Page 13

stories of Mr. Rose heading North on Saturday nights, car laden
with bags of cash money. By the 1907’s though, the site had been
abandoned.

Development of Herring Bay dates
back to 1947, when Joseph E. Rose,
a colorful entrepreneur and gambler
with roots in Brooklyn, N.Y., bought
300 acres of shoreline near present day
Rose Haven, Maryland. Rose had plans
to redevelop a shallow tidal salt marsh
known as Red Lion’s Pond. He dredged
the marsh to create a protected harbor
then built a marina, motel and club
house, known for decades as the Rose
Haven Yacht Club.

When local developer E. Steuart Chaney heard Rose Haven Yacht
Club was for sale in 1977, he convinced his wife and business partner
to visit the property over Memorial Day Weekend. They were less
than impressed. “The place was just a dump, it was covered with
potholes and trash, just completely dilapidated”, Chaney said. “But I
could see the possibilities, and it gave me goose bumps.” One year later,
on April Fool’s Day 1978, he left his lucrative position as an engineer at
Westinghouse and went to work full time to make his vision a reality.
Chaney, a history buff and preservationist, changed the name to
Herrington Harbor, a nod to a small village that occupied the area in
the 1600’s.
Over the years, Chaney made multiple improvements, including

Through the 1970’s the Yacht Club was
renown for boat races, beauty contests,
fishing carnivals, oysters roasts and
gambling. Anne Mulder, current
manager of the Inn, says they're
greenbook | fall & Winter 2015

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