Plan your visit

Plan your visit

The History of Cape May

A canal, dug from a natural shallow creek, runs from Cape May's harbor to the Delaware Bay, technically making Cape May an island. Because of the canal, Cape May is separated from the rest of New Jersey, both physically and metaphorically. Unlike other Jersey shore towns, Cape May City still looks like small-town America, complete with tree-canopied streets, right out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

Here are some fairly well-known facts about Cape May, New Jersey:

• Cape May is named for the Dutch explorer Cornelius Jacobson Mey who charted the area in the early 1600s.
• Though it is an island, Cape May is a part of a "cape," a strip of land projecting into a body of water. Settled by whalers and fishermen in colonial times, Cape May has been the destination of vacationers since  "resorting" to a different location began, making Cape May America's oldest seaside resort. Learn more about Cape May's whaling history
• Earlier inhabitants were the Kechemeches, a sub-tribe of the Lenni-Lenape people. Learn more about Cape May before Victoria
• Five United States presidents have stayed in Cape May: Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Ulysses Grant, Chester Arthur and Benjamin Harrison. Read The Halls the Presidents Walked
• In 1878, Cape May City nearly burned to the ground in a fire that destroyed forty acres, which included the original Congress Hall, Columbia House, and Atlantic Hotel, totaling over $400,000 in damage. The reconstruction that followed has left a plethora of Victorian era buildings like no other in America. Learn more about the great fire
• With roots as a U.S. Navy base prior to World War II, Cape May's Coast Guard Training Station continues to be an integral part of Cape May. Learn more about the Coast Guard in Cape May
• In 1976, Cape May was declared a National Historic Landmark City. Cape May celebrates the 50th anniversary of this landmark status in 2026.
• The island is actually made up of Cape May City, the boroughs of West Cape May and Cape May Point, and a township (Lower, which is not to be confused with Middle and Upper - all of which comprise Cape May County). Read Where is Cape Island?

 

Cape May's population

The year-round population of Cape May is about 4,700, a number that has varied little for over a hundred years. That number can swell to more than 40,000 on some summer weekends.

Dining in Cape May

Dining in Cape May often exceeds the casual visitor's expectations.  From the restaurants on Schellenger's Landing at the base of the canal bridge, to those along the beach front and into West Cape May, one can find superior cuisine alongside customary seaside fare. There are almost no chain stores in Cape May. Large national franchisers have not located here. Instead there are scores of small shops and antique stores from the outdoor Washington Street Mall to the Beach Avenue store fronts that cater to the sun and fun crowds.

Staying in Cape May

Staying in Cape May offers vacationers the widest possible variety of experiences. The hotels of yesteryear are still here, some beautifully restored and others, by design, comfortably left as they have been for decades. Meticulously maintained bed and breakfast inns are renowned in Cape May; as are many historic Guest Houses.  Of course for the thousands of visitors who prefer conventional luxuries and a swimming pool, Cape May has plenty of resort hotels. Rounding out the choices is the traditional whole house or condo rental.  Prices on these stays will vary with the season, the amenities offered and their proximity to the beach.

What to do in Cape May

While not in the ocean or on the beach, visitors can spend time in Cape May exploring nature trails, whale and dolphin watching, taking Victorian house or ghost tours, golfing, fishing (surf and sea), antiquing, or visiting art galleries and history exhibits.

Visitors can get a spa treatment, take in live theatre and concerts, stop by a vineyard for wine tasting, take a carriage ride, play skeeball in the arcades and even bar hop. With rental spots in key locations on this flat island, bicycling to everything on the island is easily done... and something locals heartily recommend.

And if that's not enough to keep vacationers content, they can cross over the canal bridge to find amusement parks in the Wildwoods and casinos a 45-minute drive away in Atlantic City.

When the excitement is over and the time is late, the calm of Cape May will be ready and waiting, as it is now and always has been.