Somerset Beach, Virginia, was a small steamboat resort community in King George County, Virginia.  The steamboats are gone, but the landscape is imprinted by the past.  

Parts of this ongoing research project are shared here, prior to publication of the full story, in hopes that it reaches someone who has memories of the town.

Whether you are a genealogist, a neighbor, a descendant, or a curious visitor — welcome. The goal is to connect with the descendants of those who lived here and those who are buried here.

Topics of my research thus far include: 

- Somerset Beach Cemetery (37 burials as of May 2026)

- Lewis Jefferson - Wealthy businessman and resident of Washington DC, Black Entrepreneur and owner of the Jane Moseley Steamer 

- James Ottoway Holmes - Wealthy businessman and resident of Washington DC, Black entrepreneur and owner of the E. Madison Hall Steamboat.

- Study of the steamboat business during the era of excursions on the Potomac River.

- Washington, DC's 7th Street Wharf 

- F. W. Payne - Somerset Beach Founder and Developer, and politician. 

- L. L. Lee (center, photo above) - my great-grandfather - entrepreneur, blacksmith, and tradesman 

- Clara Page Lee - my great-grandmother - entrepreneur, shopkeeper 

- 1st Baptist Church Somerset Beach, Trustees and History

- Providence Methodist Episcopal Church South, Trustees and History

- Ambar Baptist Church History  

- Lot ownership and the residents of Somerset Beach

Though its name survives on old plats and cemetery records, the long-forgotten community itself is no longer widely known. 

Searching through decades of land deeds, census records, newspaper articles, society columns, family photos, and oral histories, the story of Somerset Beach is coming back to life.