Accommodations

  1. Congress Hall’s Grand Re-Opening

    Text by | Published July 1st, 2002 in Cape May • Hotels • Restoration

    Hundreds of people line the lawn, stroll through the ballroom and dally on the verandah. I’m among them.

  2. Congress Hall in 2002

    Text by | Published June 1st, 2002 in Architecture • Cape May • Hotels • Restoration

    On June 7-8, 2002, Congress Hall Hotel opened its doors once again in Cape May. More than a grand momen… it’s a significant step in Cape May’s future.

  3. The Abbey: Gurney Street and Columbia Avenue

    Text by | Published February 1st, 2002 in Accommodations • Architecture • B&Bs • Cape Island • Cape May • Restoration

    If Senator John McCreary were somehow to return to Cape May today, he wouldn’t have much trouble recognizing his summer residence. Standing proudly at the corner of Gurney Street and Columbia Avenue, his home, in its most recent incarnation [...]

  4. Recruit turned resident: Tom Carroll and the Mainstay Inn

    Text by | Published November 1st, 2000 in Coast Guard • Innkeeper Profiles • Innkeeping

    Tom Carroll has been a resident of Cape May for nearly 30 years, with 24 of those years spent as activity duty in the Coast Guard. Tom, in fact, comes from a Coast Guard family. His brother was a helicopter [...]

  5. Three Innkeepers’ Stories…

    Text by | Published October 1st, 2000 in Cape May • Characters • Innkeeper Profiles • Innkeeping

    What if you had the nerve to follow your dream? Memories of sunny, sandy, carefree days stream back and suddenly you remember that wonderful couple who ran that lovely bed and breakfast you visited. Nice people, they were. And they [...]

  6. Renovating a Relic

    Text by | Published September 1st, 2000 in Hotels • Restoration

    It’s been a long time coming. There were Department of Interior rules and regulations to follow, million-dollar funding to secure, lawsuits to brave, mountains of paperwork to wade through and endless rolls of red tape to unwind. Now, long overdue [...]

  7. The Restoration of Congress Hall: History’s Contemporary Challenge

    Text by | Published August 1st, 2000 in Architecture • Cape May • Hotels • Restoration

    She was just one of many large hotels in the late 1800s that catered to the elite. Massive hotels they were, with broad verandahs and sweeping lawns that faced the ocean.
    John Philip Sousa wrote two songs for Congress Hall. In [...]

  8. The Chalfonte Saga Continues

    Text by | Published August 1st, 2000 in Architecture • Cape Island • Cape May • Historic Figures • Hotels

    What began as a simple boarding house soon grew into a reputable hotel under the direction of Colonel Henry Sawyer. He was a local hero — it was said that every man, woman and child in Cape May could recite [...]

  9. The Chalfonte Hotel: The Beginning

    Text by | Published July 1st, 2000 in Cape Island • Cape May • Historic Figures • Hotels

    A simple carpenter stares death in the eye, and lives to build one of Cape May’s living treasures. A story rooted in American history, the tale of Henry Washington Sawyer is one of courage, strength and pride.

  10. Watching History Go Away: The Christian Admiral Hotel

    Text by | Published July 1st, 1998 in Architecture • Cape Island • Cape May • Hotels

    In a town whose very existence depends on its historic buildings, the loss of one from fire, much less demolition, is felt intensely. The Christian Admiral Hotel was like a living, breathing member of the community and her passing was [...]