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Fifty Years of Family
The Montreal Beach Resort celebrates five decades and three generations of a family enterprise
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Feature articles that have appeared in Cape May Magazine
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Beneath the Surface: The story of the SS Atlantus
How the tenuous notion of a concrete ship went on to become one of Cape May’s most iconic landmarks.
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Bound by Family and Faith: The Story of the Allen A.M.E. Church
When two or more African-American women are gathered together in Cape May, they almost immediately start talking about their cousins. In fact, they probably are cousins. They might be second cousins twice removed, or first cousins on their grandmothers’ side, or they might actually be aunts and nieces. But they […]
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In the service of The Queen
The Queen Victoria on Ocean Street may well be the most authentic of the bed and breakfast inns in Cape May. Built in 1881 by Douglas Gregory, a river pilot, today it stands as a shining example of Victorian architecture. Originally the Gregory home, the house was sold on May […]
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Harvest Season is Crush Time
It’s harvest time, the big sink-or-swim moment where winemakers learn if Mother Nature’s been good to them. Local wineries kick into high gear starting in late August, when the literal fruit of the year’s labor is picked, crushed, fermented, bottled, and finally enjoyed. Harvest time means all hands on deck […]
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Your friend, Charlie
When Kathy Brand wanted to teach her sixth grade class about World War II, she called out the army—literally. In the early 1990s, as the Canton, Ohio special-needs educator prepared her lesson plan, she learned that the U.S. Army’s 69th Infantry Division was planning a reunion in Cincinnati. Brand arranged […]
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Past Tense: Exploring a former Cape May house with a history
The old house is gone now. A victim of demolition. For more than a decade, the former homestead sat sadly by the side of Seashore Road, just south of the Cape May Canal near Seahorse Farm, deteriorating, rotting—awaiting any hope of salvation. But decades of apathy wore away any possibility […]
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Rescue Squad
It’s a system of loyalty and trust. Loyalty to those who visit Cape May beaches, and trust among the lifeguards themselves. No occupation seems to embody the all-American summer like that of a well-tanned, able-bodied, vigilant and attentive lifeguard. Lifeguards sit upon their chair, constantly scanning the horizon looking for […]
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The Beaten Track
When a November 2014 storm uncovered a span of railroad track at Sunset Beach, people were surprised. Few knew why train tracks would even be there, or about the forgotten role of trains in Cape May’s history. Across much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, trains made a huge impact […]
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In the beginning
Forty-two years ago, God visited the Mainstay Inn. Well, it wasn’t actually the Supreme Being, and it wasn’t quite the Mainstay Inn, at least not the one that stands proudly on the intersection of Columbia Avenue and Stockton Place now. But back in the early 1970s, the self-appointed deity of […]
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The Ageless Arcades
Your family’s day at the beach is done. The kids have had enough of surf and sand, soft-serve custard and SPF 50. But in Cape May, the fun doesn’t end when the sun goes down. New Jersey’s southernmost resort is a far cry from Wildwood, with its mega-amusement piers and […]
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A Coast Guard Family Legacy Of Service & Saving Lives
In a Coast Guard town like Cape May many tales are told about old salts and their adventures at sea. But this story, about an extended Coast Guard family, is one for the history books. Llewellyn “Lew” Midgett was among the first young men to finish boot camp when the […]
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The Ghost of Christmas Present(s)
Winterwood Gift & Christmas Shoppe is a place of perpetual good cheer.
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Chasing Norman Rockwell
“It’s like a Norman Rockwell painting,” I’d say, describing Cape May’s charming atmosphere. I grew up 50 miles “up the road” from Cape May, and visiting was a bi-annual excursion. On college Christmas breaks, my mother and I would walk the quiet beaches and streets and look at the historic […]
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Freedom’s Corner
In the tense years before the Civil War, when heated debates about slavery resonated in the halls of Congress, when churches increasingly denounced its evils, when free blacks were beaten in northern cities, when thousands of courageous, determined people managed to free themselves and escape north, Cape May was deeply embroiled in this struggle for freedom.
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The Shops Around the Corner
It took a tanking economy to launch one of Cape May’s most distinctive shopping destinations. This year, the West End Garage marks 10 years of serving customers near and far.
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A Story Told In Slides
It has been more than half a century since two major fires ripped through Schellenger’s Landing. The first, in 1966, destroyed the Lobster House restaurant, and the second, a year later, incinerated Fisherman’s Wharf and threatened a major explosion. Just this summer, a treasure trove of never-seen-before photographs of the […]
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Smuggler’s Paradise
TV viewers may be familiar with the iconic opening from HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. Bottles of liquor from some unknown smuggler’s boat wash ashore on the Atlantic City coastline at the feet of fictitious Prohibition kingpin, Nucky Thompson. The isolated sandy shore of South Jersey was a convenient offloading spot for […]
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Golden Slumbers
On the evening of December 8, 1980, Gene Schultz, now a Lower Township resident, but then of the prestigious Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home in New York City, was assisting a family with funeral arrangements for their deceased loved one at one of Campbell’s associate chapels. During their solemn preparations, […]
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Culinary Cape May: A Gastronomic History
“Cape May is the place of places for an epicure. All our great hotels…have become famous justly for their cuisine. Everything that the world gives in the edible line is to be found in the bills of fare of our Cape May hotels—aye and on their tables.” Cape May Ocean […]