Victorian Cape May

Elegant remnants of the Victorian era grace almost every corner of Cape May. Wealthy locals built opulent homes like the Emlen Physick Estate and the George Allen House, while grand hotels like Congress Hall and the Chalfonte welcomed visitors from around the country. Even presidents came for the healthful sea air and distinguished venues. Yet the gaieties of these well-heeled patrons were shadowed by strictly defined social roles. Men and women--upper class, as well as cooks and servants--had vastly different experiences in this resort town. Local historian Robert Heinly explores all aspects of this world. Peer into the upstairs and downstairs of these majestic homes to discover what life was like in Victorian Cape May.

Elegant remnants of the Victorian era grace almost every corner of Cape May. Wealthy locals built opulent homes like the Emlen Physick Estate and the George Allen House, while grand hotels like Congress Hall and the Chalfonte welcomed visitors from around the country. Even presidents came for the healthful sea air and distinguished venues. Yet the gaieties of these well-heeled patrons were shadowed by strictly defined social roles. Men and women--upper class, as well as cooks and servants--had vastly different experiences in this resort town. Local historian Robert Heinly explores all aspects of this world. Peer into the upstairs and downstairs of these majestic homes to discover what life was like in Victorian Cape May.

Elegant remnants of the Victorian era grace almost every corner of Cape May. Wealthy locals built opulent homes like the Emlen Physick Estate and the George Allen House, while grand hotels like Congress Hall and the Chalfonte welcomed visitors from around the country. Even presidents came for the healthful sea air and distinguished venues. Yet the gaieties of these well-heeled patrons were shadowed by strictly defined social roles. Men and women--upper class, as well as cooks and servants--had vastly different experiences in this resort town. Local historian Robert Heinly explores all aspects of this world. Peer into the upstairs and downstairs of these majestic homes to discover what life was like in Victorian Cape May.

Cape May has a visual smorgasbord of Victorian architecture and ornamentation, adorned with sparkling coats of colorful paint. Gorgeous examples of Carpenter Gothic, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Edwardian, American Bracketed Villa, and Stick Styles are presented in color, most dating from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, and all dripping with finely cut wood bric-a-brac. Work by celebrated national architects Samuel Sloan and Frank Furness is featured, along with the area's premier local designer, Stephen Decatur Button. This picture-packed volume of summer cottages and guesthouses is a treasured souvenir for all who have visited New Jersey's southern cape, and an indispensable reference for enthusiasts of Victorian era architecture and exterior ornamentation.

The smallest shore resort on the New Jersey coast, Cape May Point has more than one million visitors each year! This beautiful book depicts Cape May Point's wonderful gingerbread cottages, Victorian chapels, and bantam bungalows that are turning into plastic palaces. Learn about the grand hotels, the two disastrous fires, President Harrison's scandal, the religious revivals and camp meetings, the Country Club, and, of course, the devastating storms that affected the Point. Take a nostalgic journey to Cape May Point's immediate neighbors: the old Life Saving Station, Sunset Beach, the New Jersey State Park, the former South Cape May, the Lighthouse, and Higbee's Beach. Illustrated with over 200 classic photos and drawings, this book will delight vacationers and residents, and inspire future generations of shore-goers.

No matter how far you run, you can never really escape a haunted past. Darrell Henshaw—teacher, coach, and paranormal sensitive—learned this lesson the hard way. Now, with his job gone and few options, he heads for Cape May to coach a summer football camp. The resort town, with gorgeous beaches, rich history and famous Victorian mansions, might just be the getaway he needs. Only, no one told him Cape May is the most haunted seaport on the East Coast. When a resident ghost, the Haunted Bride, stalks Darrell, begging for his help, he can't refuse, and joins forces with Cassie, another sensitive. As Darrell and the street-wise teen investigate the bride's death, they uncover something far more sinister than a murder. Can Darrell and Cassie expose those behind the crimes before they end up becoming the next victims?

Margaret Wilder’s life is about to be turned upside down … …when her husband of fifteen years abruptly leaves without explanation. Now as their young daughters struggle to understand why their dad has been gone for a month without so much as a phone call, Margaret begins to uncover her husband’s secrets while unraveling her own long-buried feelings about their marriage. On top of all the personal turmoil, Margaret’s job at the wildlife refuge has cut back her hours, and a storm approaches that could ruin all of the hard work she’s put into one of her greatest joys, her annual vegetable and flower garden. As she forms an unlikely friendship with her handsome coworker, Dave, things take a turn when she is offered a great opportunity to build the garden of her dreams on a piece of land by the beach. In the first book of the Cape May Series, follow the twists and turns of Margaret’s journey as she picks up the pieces of her life with the help of family and friends, set in the beautiful Victorian beach town of Cape May, New Jersey.

Few would imagine that the land currently occupied by the Nature Conservancy's Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, or "the Meadows, "? was once the picturesque Jersey Shore town of South Cape May. By the early twentieth century, a striking hotel and homes designed by renowned Victorian-era architects dotted the landscape. Residents and visitors alike spotted rumrunners racing across the beachfront during Prohibition and endured World War II with German submarines lurking just offshore. But by 1954, barely a trace of the town remained except for about twenty of the original houses, which were moved a mile away. Join one of the town's last residents, Joseph Burcher, as he chronicles life in South Cape May before the angry Atlantic swallowed this serene town.