Village Greene passes 50 years old…but who is counting or even thinking about this mid-century modern subdivision designed to bring people into Cape May following the 1962 Nor’easter? The front page of the April 29, 1965 Cape May Star and Wave features a photograph of the key players at the […]
The Montreal Beach Resort celebrates five decades and three generations of a family enterprise
How the tenuous notion of a concrete ship went on to become one of Cape May’s most iconic landmarks.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
For half a century, South Cape May was the summer retreat of working-class families, tourists and titans of industry. By the early 1950s, most of the town had washed out to sea. But for one early resident, the memories linger on.
A Famous Surgeon, a Marital Scandal, a Live Branch, and a Ghost
You’ve probably walked past the unimposing pale yellow house at 645 Lafayette Street many times, and perhaps you read the historical marker out front—the one saying that Stephen Smith was a businessman, philanthropist, abolitionist and founder of Cape May’s AME Church. But what you didn’t know is that Smith, who […]
Many people have seen the movie Twelve Years a Slave, the true story of a free black man from New York, lured to Washington, D.C. by slave traders and sold into bondage in 1841. But few people know that such things happened right here in Cape May. In the years […]
Cape May—in its heyday as the first and most popular seaside resort—attracted all sorts of VIPs. Lured by the restorative powers of the sea and the status of socializing at the beach were United States presidents, southern plantation owners, entrepreneurs, inventors, industrialists, military heroes, architects, artists and—the Quinine King. William […]
“She came to Philadelphia, and worked in hotels, in club houses, and afterwards at Cape May. Whenever she had raised money enough to pay expenses, she would make her way back, hide herself, and in various ways give notice to those who were ready to strike for freedom.”
When we finally arrive back home after visiting a friend in another city or staying in a vacation cottage for a week, even though we had a wonderful time, we are happy to step across the threshold of our own home. We plop down in our favorite chair or well-worn […]
The evolution and eventual destruction of one of Cape May’s most beloved and iconic buildings.