112 Yorke Avenue
Nestled on a side street east of Broadway sits 112 Yorke Avenue, a three-story Victorian charmer built when West Cape May was mostly farmland, and peopled with service workers and Mayflower descendants. There may be less farmland and fewer Mayflower descendants these days, but the home remains a preserved piece of West Cape May history.
“This place has such great character,” said Jen Bacani, who along with her husband Fred, are the current owners. “We just fell in love with Cape May, and we knew we wanted a property that was older and with a little history—our primary house just doesn’t have that history. So, we settled on the property on Labor Day 2021.”
The structure was built around 1900 and is a well-preserved example of Folk Victorian architecture. The design is even, orderly, and simple, and was most likely built by and/or for a tradesman, as opposed to the more opulent Italianate or Queen Anne styles preferred by wealthy investors and found around Cape May City. West Cape May was always home to those employed in the service industries—maids, teamsters, milkmen, and gold beaters employed by the Hastings Goldbeating Company—and their modest homes reflect that. However, this property does sport symmetrically placed windows in the front, giving the house a welcoming façade, as well as a four-post covered porch that’s perfect for enjoying drinks.
“A former owner stopped by two summers ago,” said Jen. “Her name was Rumsey. She told me her family had owned the property and how they changed the second story layout. Back then the upstairs had a primary bedroom, and the other side was open, so they put up some walls to create more rooms. She told me they had found some wooden shoes and a doll in the attic, and she told me she would drop them off so they could stay with the house. But I never got those shoes or the doll. I’m not sure I really wanted them anyway.”
Prior to Jen and Fred, the property was owned by Ginny and Jeff Minehart, another couple who fell in love with Cape May and found 112 Yorke Avenue irresistible.
“When we bought the place in 2012, what I loved most was that I could get on my bike and in two minutes I could be at the beach,” said Ginny. “And out in West Cape May I could go the other way and I could be in the middle of all that farmland, and it was just beautiful. Now it has changed a bit. And I look and I worry that it doesn’t turn into every other beach resort, but it’s still lovely and all those pretty little cottages are still lovely.”
The house is currently configured as a single-family home with two bedrooms, a bath and-a-half and a finished third floor.
“When we closed on the property, we had paid 300-and-some thousand,” said Ginny. “I thought we were in a win-win situation since we could put more money into the house for upgrades and still win. But being in the historic area we were not able to change too much. So, when we were looking at the house, I thought the only way we could buy this was if we could convert that third floor into a living space for our grandkids. So that’s what we did.”
The house maintains many original features, including the pine flooring.
“We did have some plans for the home,” continued Ginny. “We were going to redo the kitchen, but we had to do it within the confines of the home’s codes. We were in the historic area, so we needed special windows, and we ran into a lot of issues. So, we decided just to hold off. We decided to just enjoy and preserve the house as it is, and not worry so much about redoing it. We painted and we worked very hard outside in the garden. We just enjoyed the house for everything it is. The house is a joy, we adored it.”
Ginny still has memories of the home before she even bought it.
“I had summered in Long Beach Island as a child,” said Ginny “After we were married, we wanted to buy a place out there, but we couldn’t find anything we could afford. My husband was in private practice and his partner said, ‘you should come to Cape May.’ Well, I had never been to Cape May, but my father used to go to Cape May and talk about it all the time. So, we went down, and I absolutely fell in love. But then we drifted away from the shore. Our children got married, our children had children. Then one day I thought ‘I want to go back to Cape May and make new memories.’ We bought 112 Yorke Avenue.”
In Cape May, Ginny had found a place where the grass was actually greener.
“Cape May is very different from Long Beach Island because Long Beach Island has no grass—it’s all stones,” said Ginny. “Stones in yards—stones everywhere—so to come to Cape May where there was a lot of greenery…I’m a gardener, so for me that was heaven.”
They got word of 112 Yorke being available for sale and went for a look. They never looked back.
“A young teacher and her husband had the house before us,” said Ginny. “When we were looking at the house, everyone in the neighborhood was interested in who was going to buy the house. On the day we went to look at the house, there was a line of people to get in and see it, and we were actually waiting in the street to get in. And all the neighbors came out of their homes into the street to see what was happening.”
“Everyone came from different houses on the street and were so welcoming,” continued Ginny. “They were saying how much we would love the house, and they were talking about how we would love the area and how they had raised the children there—just very nice people. Over the years we wound up partying with all those people. We got to know each other together, our kids got to know each other, and it was just a lot of fun. We absolutely love Cape May.”
