The CapeMay.com blog
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 looked so happy! Perhaps you could be, too.
A woman sits in a chair on the covered porch, taking in the salty sea breeze as I approach. Soon I am introduced in the retreat’s lobby to Sister Ann Raymond, director of St. Mary’s-by-the-Sea. A piano rests near a statue of Saint Joseph, the carpenter. The main sitting room, a library with a variety… Read more »
A contemporary description of the 1878 pre-fire Cape May skyline, observed from the deck of a passing sailboat, spoke of the “flashing lines of festival lights connecting the continuous row of monstrous four-floored buildings, seeming to touch each other…”
These lights were anchored on each end by railroad properties, the Sea Breeze Excursion House on the western end of the city and the great Stockton on the east. Although both of these hotels survived the inferno, the “continuous row of monstrous buildings” between them was now reduced to ashes.
People have been vacationing on Cape Island for more than 200 years and residents have been farming the acreage here for much longer than that. In fact it was the availability of fresh food that was imperative to Cape May’s growth as a resort community.
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 fact, he introduced them on her lawn. For she was well-known across the nation… Read more »
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 Sawyer’s “Lottery of Death” story by heart.
As an intern at CapeMay.com, one of my many jobs is reading e-mails that you, our faithful readership, send to CapeMay.com. Many times, visitors recount their fondest memories of Cape May. They spout statistics and ask intriguing questions, most of which send me running to our local history buffs. Throughout the e-mails one word seems… Read more »
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.
Ever put a quarter in the meter and check your watch, just to come back a half an hour later to find a ticket tucked neatly under a windshield wiper? Maybe your watch was running slow? Or perhaps the meter running fast? Eleven-year-old Ellie Lammer of Berkeley, California, was sure Berkeley’s meters were wrong in… Read more »
They’re talking about it in New York. They’re arguing about it in Philadelphia. And in both cities, the town of Cape May crops up in the conversations. They’re discussing the use of horse and carriages as entertainment. Animal rights activists are scrutinizing the trade, noting the animals suffer cruel treatment and work long hours. Both… Read more »
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