Year: 2000

St. Mary’s by the Sea

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 »

Renovating a Relic

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 according to some and beyond belief to others, rehabilitation of Congress Hall has begun.

For the love of the game

The sport of fishing is one that includes both luck and talent. Fate plays a big hand, as does Mother Nature. Being in the right place at the right time and knowing how to hook the “big one” – well, that’s what it’s all about. As the daughter of a sport fisherman, I watched from… Read more »

The Road Not Taken: An Excerpt from “The Summer City by the Sea”

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.

Farming’s Roots in West Cape May

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.

The Chalfonte Saga Continues

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.

Living on the Bird Way

“Pisscchhh! pssch, pssch, pssch.” It woke me very early one morning when I was living on Seagrove Avenue, out by Cape May Point. It was a very strange sound.  I got out of bed and looked through the window to find what my sleepy eyes perceived as aliens. Two of them stood in my yard,… Read more »

The Dollhouse Museum at the Goodman House

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 »

Award Winning Winery

Visitors to Cape May might be surprised tolearn that they can experience and savor some fine,locally produced and award-winning wines. The Cape May Winery and Vineyard, owned by Bill and Joan Hayes located less than a mile north of the Cape May Canal, has been producing three reds and two whites for some time now.… Read more »