The railways in Scotland began as wagonways which transported coal and minerals from Lanarkshire and Fife to the coast. In 1842 a passenger line was running between Edinburgh and Glasgow. In England in the 1850s only one train a day carried third class passengers but in Scotland nearly all carried them and the working class were able to make a regular pilgrimage to the seaside. By the 1880s, the express railway engines and plush carriages served the well-to-do, with travelling time from London to Edinburgh reduced from 17 to 8 hours.

During this period the town advertised itself as the 'Biarritz of the North', with London's society figures flocking to the area. On Easter Monday 1895, 1500 visitors arrived in North Berwick on regular and special excursion trains. When added to those already in the Burgh for the weekend, this amounted to over three thousand visitors. Some notable families who spent the months of August and September in the town included the McAlpines of Accrington, Weirs of Glasgow, Forrester-Patons of Alloa and the Coates of Paisley whose summer residence was 34, Dirleton Avenue (Golf Hotel). Thomas Coates also owned the land to the south known as Smiley Knowe.

These wealthy families would bring their entourage of housekeepers, butlers, footmen and nannies to manage the household and the local merchants and shopkeepers would supply all their sundries. The residents included Hugh Tennent Jnr. - Brewer (Hyndford House), Robert Chambers - Publisher (St Baldred's Tower), Eduardo de Zoete (Ormesdene, Fidra Road), Lewis Bilton - Writer to the Regent (The Knoll), Edouard Esmond (Marly Knowe), Walter de Zoete - Stockbroker (Blenheim House), Astor family (Shipka), John Blair Balfour - Lord Advocate for Scotland (Glasclune), James Keiller of Dundee (12 Marine Parade), Sir Patrick Ford - Solicitor General for Scotland (Westerdunes), Deuchar family (Inchdura House, Hamilton Road), John R. Dale - Farmer (Abbots Croft), and George Dalziel - Writer to the Signet (Redholm).

In 1903, it was reported that playing golf on the West Links on the same day were four MPs, the Speaker of the House of Commons, two bishops and the Prime Minister. Later they were joined by Lord Kitchener and HMS Dreadnought on passage to Rosyth, fired a ten-gun salute over the course. At the centre of the social activities was the Marine Hotel(1875), where among others, Field Marshall Roberts and Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, exiled from Russia, resided during the summer season. The fashionable socialite, King Edward VII also visited the town that year, arriving by train from Balmoral.

Since 1849, challenge or brag matches between the best golf professional's of the day, attracted large crowds to North Berwick. In 1899, Willie Park Jnr. who owned the property at the 'Garve' in Beach Road, challenged Harry Vardon to a match for 100 pounds over the West Links, with the return at Ganton; 36 holes played on each course. In July at North Berwick over 9,000 spectators arrived by train to watch the match and it was reported that the shopkeepers closed to follow the afternoon round.

In the summer the 'Rose' a paddle steamer owned by the Galloway Saloon Steam Packet Company would bring daytrippers on a round trip from Leith to North Berwick, tieing up at Galloways Pier on the Platcock Rocks, where passenger would board for Elie in Fife before returning to Leith.

The earliest recorded society in the town were the Freemasons, who established the Lodge St Baldred on 2nd May 1825. The Volunteers 'F' Company, (7th V.B.R.S) Rifle Corps. was raised by Sir Hew Dalrymple in 1860 when Queen Victoria accepted the offer of their services. The Volunteers later held their meetings in the Foresters Hall, situated in the area now occupied by Tigh Mhor in the High Street. The hall owned by the Ancient Order of Foresters was opened in 1887 by Richard Haldane, member of parliament for East Lothian who was appointed Secretary of War in Asquith's 1905 Liberal government. The hall accommodated 800 persons and was the centre of activity in the town. In 1895, Colour-Sergeant Dodds from the Scots Guards succeeded Sergeant Crawford as drill-inspector. He also drilled the pupils at the High School and Public School. The Volunteers carried out their weekly drills on the East Links, with their firing range at Canty Bay. They had 60 members and a Band which played every Saturday evening on the Auld Kirk Green. To the right of the entrance door to the Foresters Hall was Methven & Simpson's music shop where instruments and piano's could be hired by the session.

The Victoria Football Club was instituted in 1893 playing on ground provided by Sir Walter Hamilton-Dalrymple. Later the club would take the name Bass Rock F.C. The outdoor salt water swimming pool, originally paid for by members of the North Berwick Swimming Club opened in September 1900 and the peripheral buildings were completed in 1929. Prior to this, the Swimming Club held their annual aquatic gala in the harbour from 1895. The Bowling Club founded in 1865 played on the bowling green situated on land presently occupied by the Abbey Church Hall. In 1880 they moved to a new green in Kirk Ports before settling in Clifford Road (1903).

The original Yacht Club was founded in 1900 and the curling pond situated in Nungate was used by very active clubs at North Berwick, Balgone and Tyninghame. The tennis courts (1905) and later the putting greens were laid out on the East Links. The Boys Brigade meetings were held in the Foresters Hall and in August 1908 the 1st North Berwick Scout troop was founded, one of the earliest in the country. In 1905, Major General Baden Powell spent a holiday at Leuchie as a guest of Colonel Sir William Gardiner Baird. He was greeted by a large cheering crowd when he arrived at the North Berwick railway station.

Throughout the early years of the twentieth century the sound of music and laughter could be heard from the open-air ' Pierrots' variety show on the esplanade while crowds of over three thousand watched the aquatic gala's at the swimming pool. The controversial subject of mixed bathing was passed by the Town Council in 1905. The harbourmaster James Marr, a well known and popular personality had a string of rowing boats for hire in the West Bay. In 1931, at the age of ninety-five 'Daddy' Marr as he was known, was the oldest harbourmaster in the British Isles. The town centre at the time of Queen Victoria's death in 1901 could easily be recognised today, but lets go back to the beginning of the story of this remarkable Royal Burgh.