September 6th 2021

NJ Monthly listed their Top 10 Most Historic Towns In New Jersey.  Cape May was the only selection at the Shore!  Read below to see what they had to say!

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CAPE MAY

Cape May County

FOUNDED: In 1620, the same year Pilgrims arrived in the New World, Dutch sea captain and explorer Cornelius Jacobsen Mey charted the area that, in 1869, was named in his honor (with an Anglicized spelling).

THE STORY: The city of Cape May evolved from a fishing and whaling community to seaside resort as early as the mid-1700s. Tourism burgeoned in 1816 with the opening of the city’s first hotel, the original Congress Hall. In 1976, the entire city of Cape May was designated a National Historic Landmark—the only U.S. city so honored. Today, Cape May boasts the second largest concentration of gingerbread-trimmed Victorians (upwards of 600) in the nation, second only to San Francisco.

THE SIGHTS: The Emlen Physick Estate, built in 1879, is the only Victorian house in town open as a museum; guided tours are available daily. To see more of the city, take a narrated trolley or walking tour, many offered by Cape May MAC, a nonprofit dedicated to the area’s cultural enrichment. During the holiday season, Cape May MAC conducts interior tours of additional Victorians. Cape May MAC also maintains the 1859 Cape May Lighthouse and the World War II Lookout Tower, both in Cape May Point. Each affords a panoramic ocean view. The city’s oldest surviving residence, the Memucan Hughes House, built circa 1775, was a residence, tavern and possibly a brothel; it is open seasonally for guided tours. And don’t miss the new Harriet Tubman Museum, dedicated in September 2020 to honor the legendary Underground Railroad activist. 

NEARBY: The Museum of Cape May County, in Cape May Court House, 12 miles north of the city, features a 1704 house with an 1830 addition, a 1780 barn, and a carriage shed with antique vehicles. Historic Cold Spring Village, an outdoor living-history museum, recreates rural life from the early-to mid-19th century.  At Sunset Beach in Lower Township, you can see the visible remains of a sunken concrete ship, the S.S. Atlantus, one of 12 experimental ships built during and after World War I. This one broke loose from its moorings in 1926 and has jutted out of the ocean ever since. Other area attractions include wineries, breweries, an aviation museum and the Cape May County Park & Zoo.

VINTAGE EATS: Dine indoors or on the veranda at the Magnolia Room Restaurant in the Chalfonte (301 Howard Street), Cape May’s oldest standing hotel.