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 »
Tag: This is Cape May
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.
The Restoration of Congress Hall: History’s Contemporary Challenge
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 »
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.
The Chalfonte Hotel: The Beginning
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.
Fishing Cape May
Yes, fishing fever is here. It’s more like a fishing frenzy in Cape May, a town with eleven commandments — thou shall fish rounding out the bunch. A place where being “seaworthy” is next to Godliness. An island uniquely placed where the Delaware Bay shakes hands with the Atlantic Ocean. PLUS – a recipe for Lemon Beurre Blanc
Cape May’s Seafood Industry: Dangerously Delicious
Cape May is the second busiest site for the off-loading of seafood ont he East Coast. Approximately 11-million pounds of seafood are off-loaded annually at Fisherman’s Wharf for distribution to points throughout the globe: 600,000 pounds of flounder, 120,000 pounds of lobster, 1.5 million pounds of sea scallops, and massive quantities of at least 18 other seafood varieties pass through the plant on its way to plates world-wide.
Searching for Henry Sawyer, the Past Comes Alive
Through the years rumors of sightings have persisted. Donlin knows a man claiming to have seen Sawyer himself 27 years ago standing at the top of the stair case. The man was 13 years old at the time, and never forgot the encounter.
Up on the Stand: Who are these people anyway?
At the peak of the summer season, over 50,000 people visit Cape May and most of them spend some time on the pristine beaches to swim and cool down in the Atlantic Ocean. These bathers in Cape May are carefully protected seven days a week, seven and a half hours a day by the dedicated, professional staff of the Cape May Beach Patrol.
Cape May’s Long-time Guardians
Cape May is a town that is proud of its rich heritage. An often ignored but vital part of that heritage belongs to the Cape May Beach Patrol.
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