Day 289 – 290
Mid-morning on Saturday, 06/26/21, we caught the marina shuttle into historic downtown and beach side Cape May, NJ. Cape May is known to be America’s oldest beach side resort, first coming into being in the early 1800s. Cape May is also known for having the second largest number of 19th century Victorian homes still standing and in use in the US, second only to San Francisco, with many of them now utilized as bed & breakfast inns. While there were and are strict period construction and restoration rules for the Victorian homes in Cape May, there were and still are no paint color restrictions, which means Cape May is quite the colorful place. Indeed, the town’s streets are lined with a total of 600 beautifully-restored and meticulously-preserved houses. I fell in love!
We walked out to the renowned Cape May Beach and viewed the nostalgic striped beach tents setup as a nod to the Victorian era. There were also many large, bright pink, old-fashioned beach umbrellas among the tents. The beach was crowded with tourists, although today’s beach wear is a bit skimpier than that worn back in the 1800s! 😉 Back in the day, there were NO coed beaches, and the dress codes of that era called for WOOL beach attire. In fact, wool was the standard for all clothing worn anywhere in public, regardless of the season and temperatures.
Right across the promenade from the beach is Congress Hall, originally built in 1816 as a boarding house for summer visitors to beach side Cape May. Constructed and owned by Thomas Hughes, it was called “The Big House”. While then local residents felt the new construction was far too large to ever be successful, and nicknamed it “Tommy’s Folly”, Hughes proved them all wrong when, summer after summer, the house was packed to bursting with tourists. In 1828, Hughes was elected to Congress and in honor of his new status, The Big House was renamed Congress Hall. In 1878, Cape May fell victim to a devastating fire that swept through 38 acres of Cape May’s seafront, destroying Congress Hall, along with many other structures. Rebuilt the second time with brick, rather than wood, Congress Hall was resurrected, its business blossomed again, and it went on to open Cape May’s first post-Prohibition cocktail bar in 1934. Congress Hall is still in operation today, as a lavish hotel containing several restaurants and shops. Cape May’s beach promenade was originally constructed from sturdy wooden planks until a destructive nor’easter hit the area in 1962. After which the promenade was reconstructed in concrete.
While we toured the grounds of Congress Hall, we passed a long, covered aisle-way of outdoor dining tables. It was nearing the lunch hour, so all tables were filled. Wait staff carried large trays of food out from the kitchen to the outside diners. We looked up when we suddenly heard a very loud commotion of screeching sounds and wings flapping. Two of the ever-present seagulls in the area had flown right down to one of those food-laden trays as it was being carried out from the kitchen, and stolen pieces of bread right off that tray. 😐 The two then began ardently fighting over the bread right there above the startled waiter’s head! These birds were LARGE (which told us this food-stealing was probably a common practice for them.) As the birds finally flew off with their take, we watched the waiter set the tray down beside the table for which it was destined, pass out the plates to his patrons, and then heard him say “I’ll get you some more bread.” LOL! 🙂
After a nice lunch at The Cape May Fish Company, we of course took the Cape May trolley tour. The weather was perfect for an open-air trolley, but ironically the tour company mandated that we all wear masks while aboard the trolley… UGH! It was OPEN-AIR, people!! Cape May had its beginnings in the whaling industry in the mid-1700s. The town was very prosperous during the 1800s, but scaled back in the 1900s, and became a National Historic Landmark in 1976. We learned the cedar shingle siding used on the Cape May houses built during the 19th century held up much better than painted wood in all that salt air. Something I found amusing is that the peaked turrets adorning many of the area’s Victorian homes are referred to as “witches hats”.
One of the most prominent houses in Cape May is the Emlen Physick estate, which was originally constructed in 1879, at 1048 Washington Street. The 18-room mansion, designed by American architect Frank Furness, was built for Dr. Emlen Physick, Jr., and his family. Dr. Emlen was a descendant of a well-known and prosperous Philadelphia family. His grandfather, Philip Syng Physick, was a prominent surgeon in Philadelphia, so Emlen followed in his footsteps and was educated to become a doctor. Ironically, the young Emlen Physick never became a practicing doctor, instead inheriting the family fortune when his father, Emlen Physick, Sr., passed away suddenly. At the age of 20, Emlen, Jr., arrived in Cape May in 1876 and purchased eleven acres of property on Washington Street. He first built and lived in the estate’s carriage house, until the main house was completed, where he lived with his widowed mother and her two maiden sisters. Physick never married and was a gentleman farmer, owning two tenant farms and keeping livestock on his estate. He also dabbled in real estate, buying and selling many Cape May properties. Well known in the community, he was a backer for the Cape May golf club, and – after my own heart – he was president of the Cape May Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Today, the Emlen Physick estate remains preserved and in use as a museum for the public to tour. (To my credit, and having already dragged Steve through a multitude of old houses and buildings on this trip, I opted to forego this one for his sake.)
Also notable are the “Seven Sisters of Cape May”, which are seven identical houses located on Atlantic Terrace and overlooking some of the prettiest beaches in Cape May. Originally designed and constructed in 1891 by Cape May’s famous 19th century architect, Stephen Decatur Button, these seven Italian-Renaissance-style cottages were built – according to legend – for the seven beloved daughters of a wealthy Cape May builder. All seven of these houses are lovingly restored exactly to period, but are each painted in their own, individual color schemes. Several are now in use as bed and breakfasts and vacation rentals, while others are private residences.
Cape May’s Chalfonte Hotel was built in 1876, is the oldest hotel still operating in the Cape May area, and was originally owned by Henry Sawyer, who opened it as a boarding house. The property was eventually purchased by Anne de Luc and run as a hotel through 2008, when she sold it to Robert Mullock, who still operates the hotel today. It is a contributing property in the Cape May Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
After an afternoon of sight-seeing, we took the shuttle back to the marina, and at 5:30 pm, we walked across the highway with the Sharps for our first dinner together, at Tony’s Pizzeria. Brandee and I felt sorry for the poor woman who was trying to run the place single-handedly, as staffing is currently so scarce, especially in food service. She was the seating hostess, the chef, the waitress, the cashier, and bused tables all by herself. 😐 As with all boaters, the four of us had a great time talking, laughing, and sharing boat stories. The Sharps own a house in Cape Coral, FL, on a canal, where they can park Bella Vita behind it. They are doing the loop, with their dog, Romeo, while their house is being remodeled, which we think is a daring feat! 😉
On Sunday, 06/27/21, we moved Legacy to a different slip at the marina’s request, and again took the marina shuttle into town – this time to eat lunch and to the grocery store. We walked into Cape May’s busy outdoor shopping malls and dined al fresco at The Ugly Mug restaurant. As we ate, we noticed many of the restaurants had strung fishing-line in crosshatch fashion on the exterior of their outdoor dining areas. After witnessing what we had the day before, Steve realized the fishing line was installed as a deterrent to the bold and brazen seagulls that live in the area. Good thinking!
Something new to this southern girl, as I was checking out at the Acme Grocery store in Cape May, I was asked if I’d brought my own grocery bags with me. I stared blankly back at the checker (not realizing this was a requirement), who told me if I didn’t have my own bags, I could purchase paper bags from the store at 10 cents per bag! I was amazed, having never encountered being charged for my bags at the grocery store before. Obviously, I had far too many items to carry without bags, so I agreed to the additional charge. This was just the beginning of our living in the land of ‘no plastic bags allowed’…. Since then, when shopping at any store up here in the northeast (Walmart and CVS included), if I don’t remember to bring my own reusable bags with me (which I never seem to do, for some reason…), I get to PAY for my grocery bags, which are always paper. One time, early on, I asked a checker if he didn’t have plastic bags and he glared back at me with a searing look of disdain. Several patrons that had heard my question piled on by barking in unison (and with vehement disgust) “we don’t USE plastic bags anymore!”, putting me in my place as someone who obviously has no respect for the environment. This was amusing on several levels, as most of my friends know me as being environmentally-conscious… I wanted to respond that any plastic bags I use always get recycled, but I could tell this was a tough crowd, and I was vastly outnumbered, so I hung my head in shame, stayed silent, and paid for my brown paper bags.
Position: N 38° 56.904, W 74° 54.559
Total marina nights: 264
Total nights at anchor: 23
Locks today: 0
Locks Total: 28