Cape May

Cape May is a city located at the southernmost tip of New Jersey, perched at the end of the Cape May Peninsula where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is a city and seaside resort located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, and is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations. It is the southernmost municipality in New Jersey. Celebrated for its remarkably intact collection of Victorian-era architecture, its wide sandy beaches, and its role as a haven for migratory birds, Cape May occupies a singular place in both New Jersey and American history. In 1976, Cape May was declared a National Historic Landmark City, a designation that reflects centuries of cultural, architectural, and natural significance. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's resident population was 2,768, though in the summer, Cape May's population is expanded by as many as 40,000 to 50,000 visitors.

Geography and Setting

Cape May consists of a peninsula and barrier island system in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is roughly coterminous with Cape May County and runs southwards from the New Jersey mainland, separating Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Island is a man-made island at the southern tip of Cape May County, which consists of Cape May, Cape May Point, West Cape May, and portions of Lower Township. The island is separated from the mainland and the rest of Cape May County by the man-made Cape May Canal, Cape Island Creek, and Cape May Harbor, which cut it off from the rest of the Cape May Peninsula.

Cape May sits at approximately the same latitude as Washington, D.C., and Arlington County, Virginia, and is equidistant to Manhattan and Virginia. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Cape May has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) with hot, humid summers, cool winters, and year-round precipitation. This mild maritime climate has long made the city an attractive destination for travelers from across the Mid-Atlantic region.

The Cape May–Lewes Ferry provides transportation across the Delaware Bay between North Cape May, New Jersey, and Lewes, Delaware. Cape May Harbor, which borders Lower Township and nearby Wildwood Crest, allows fishing vessels to enter from the Atlantic Ocean and covers 500 acres (200 ha).

Early History and European Exploration

Cape May is the nation's oldest seaside resort and has a long and rich history dating back to the 1600s. The Kechemeche Indians of the Lenni-Lenape tribe were the first known inhabitants of the southernmost point in New Jersey. Each summer, the Native Americans traveled to what is now Cape May to escape the summer heat, fishing, hunting, and collecting fruits before the advent of autumn mandated the return to their inland villages.

In 1609, Henry Hudson documented a sighting of this area of the state. The first European to catch a glimpse of Cape May was navigator Henry Hudson and 18 of his crewmates on the Halve Maen. On August 28, 1609, while searching for the Northwest Passage, Hudson decided to sail up the unexplored Delaware Bay. Several miles up the coast, strong tides pulled the Halve Maen to a sandbar, and the crew was stranded until thunderstorms and wind aided the ship around the Cape May peninsula. This event was recorded by Hudson's first mate, Robert Juet.

In 1621, Captain Cornelius Jacobsen Mey came ashore and gave this land his name by calling it "Cape Mey." The county was named for Cornelius Jacobsen Mey, a Dutch captain who explored and charted the area from 1620 to 1621 and established a claim for the province of New Netherland. The name was later anglicized by English-speaking settlers to "Cape May," the form that persists today.

The first residents of Cape Island hailed from the English colonies of Connecticut and Massachusetts, purchasing land from the Indians in the 1630s. For most of the 17th and 18th centuries, Cape Island was a fishing, whaling, and farming community. Then in the mid-1700s, the island began to emerge as a resort for visitors from Philadelphia. Visitors first traveled here by horse-drawn wagons and stagecoaches, and as transportation options evolved, they came by steamship and railroad.

It was in 1766 that Cape Island's development as a place where many resorted for their health and pleasure truly began. The visitors came first from Philadelphia, by horse-drawn wagons, stagecoaches, sloops, and schooners. They were housed in very rustic public houses, taverns, and resident homes.

Rise as a Resort and the Great Fires

By 1834, there were six boarding houses and Cape Island began to attract the elite of New York, Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia. Hotel size increased in ensuing years — the New Atlantic, built in 1842, could accommodate 300 guests. Music pavilions and ballrooms blossomed. A two-week stay by Henry Clay in 1847 reinforced Cape Island's position as the major seaside retreat in the country, and so began its reign as the "Queen of the Seaside Resorts."

What is now Cape May was formed as the borough of Cape Island by the New Jersey Legislature on March 8, 1848, from portions of Lower Township. It was reincorporated as Cape Island City on March 10, 1851, and was renamed Cape May City on March 9, 1869. Tourism to the city was boosted in 1863 with the opening of the Tuckahoe and Cape May Railroad.

The mid-to-late 19th century was also an era of disaster and reconstruction. The city suffered devastating fires in 1869 and 1878. In the early hours of August 31, 1869, a fire broke out in the Japanese store on Washington Street, destroying the post office and at least thirty-five other buildings. The most devastating fire of all, in 1878, destroyed 35 acres of the city from Congress Hall over to Ocean Street. Cape May decided to rebuild itself as a smaller, scaled-down version of its pre-fire era — homes and businesses were built in Queen Anne, Gothic, and American bracketed styles. The decision not to compete with modern popular resorts preserved the town's character that so many find attractive today.

With the country's largest concentration of Victorian architecture — some 600 restored structures — the whole town is a National Historic Landmark. Replacement homes were almost uniformly of Victorian style, and more recent preservation efforts have left Cape May with many famously well-maintained Victorian houses — the second largest collection of such homes in the nation after San Francisco.

Civil War Era, World War II, and Preservation

The City of Cape May played a pivotal role between North and South in the fight to end slavery, attracting both southern plantation owners, northern abolitionists, and Underground Railroad leaders. During the Civil War, the Underground Railroad ran through the area, transporting enslaved people from Confederate Delaware to Union New Jersey. Some homes in Cape May were discovered to have long tunnels and secret rooms dating back to this time in history. Harriet Tubman had a notable connection to Cape May, where she worked during the early 1850s to help pay for freedom missions.

During the Second World War, Cape May's strategic position at the mouth of Delaware Bay made it vital to national defense. In 1942, a canal was constructed to connect the bay to Cape May Harbor. The canal was built to provide protection to ships from the German U-boats operating off Cape May Point during World War II and to provide entrance to ships coming in from the bay to the Intercoastal Waterway that separates South Jersey's barrier islands from the mainland. The basic training camp of the United States Coast Guard is located in Cape May. This facility is the only enlisted basic training center for the United States Coast Guard in the country.

The postwar decades brought a new chapter in Cape May's story. The opening of the Garden State Parkway in 1954 remedied the city's former isolation as automobile travel increased dramatically. The first was the March Nor'easter (Ash Wednesday Storm), March 7, 1962, that destroyed the boardwalk, beachfront, Convention Hall, and severely damaged many properties. With the construction of the seawall and promenade to replace the boardwalk and the opening of the ferry service to Delaware in 1964, Cape May was poised to shine once more.

In 1970, efforts led to getting the entire town listed on the federal government's National Register of Historic Places. In the same year, the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC) was formed to help save the Emlen Physick Mansion on Washington Street, which had been slated for demolition. Throughout the 1970s, Cape May continued its resurgence as historic preservationists restored many of the town's Victorian homes to their original beauty and splendor. Some homes became bed and breakfast inns, guest houses, restaurants, shops, and personal residences.

Nature, Birding, and Modern Tourism

Cape May's appeal extends well beyond its architecture and human history. Cape May is also famous as one of the top birding sites in North America. There are many different parks and birding sites in the area. Due to its location at the southern tip of New Jersey and numerous nature preserves and wildlife refuges, large concentrations of birds can be found in Cape May, especially during spring and fall migration. The Cape May Bird Observatory acts as the central coordinator of birding activities in Cape May, including the World Series of Birding, held in Cape May and throughout New Jersey annually in May.

The dunes in Cape May Point State Park, just to the south, provide vantage points for observing bird migrations along the Atlantic Flyway. In 1859, construction on the Cape May Lighthouse was completed — today it still stands in Cape May Point where visitors are welcome to climb to the top and learn about the history of the lighthouse, as well as the natural habitats and species that exist on the lighthouse grounds.

Modern Cape May thrives on tourism across all seasons. An estimated 11.6 million visitors in 2023 generated annual tourism spending of $7.7 billion, making it the county's single largest industry. Factors contributing to Cape May's status as a popular seaside resort destination include the creation of the pedestrian Washington Street Mall in 1971, ongoing beach restoration projects beginning in the 1980s, and the extension of the season into fall, spring, and Christmas with cultural, historical, music, arts, nature, and water-related activities and events. Not many places can list U.S. presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Benjamin Harrison among their distinguished guests, but Cape May, often cited as the country's first seaside resort, is unique among the beach towns on New Jersey's coast.

Cape May is also known as the bed and breakfast capital of the state, with hundreds of small, privately owned Victorian homes welcoming travelers and vacationers throughout the year. Tourism is the mainstay of the economy, although commercial fishing and seafood processing are also important.