A world away from the carnival atmosphere of the Wildwoods, Cape May, the oldest and most serene of the New Jersey beach towns, sits at the southern tip of the state. First settled in the early 1600s, Cape May’s glory years ran from the 1850s to the 1890s as an upper-crust summer resort, when it rivaled Newport, Rhode Island, as the destination of choice for the power brokers of Philadelphia and New York City.
A few modern motels and miniature golf courses spread along Cape May’s broad beaches, while the compact downtown district retains all its overwrought Victorian splendor. Century-old cottages now house cafés, boutiques, and art galleries, and it seems as if every other building has been converted into a quaint B&B. The town’s ornate gingerbread mansions were constructed in the aftermath of a disastrous 1878 fire; among the better examples is the elaborate Emlen Physick House, eight blocks north of downtown at 1048 Washington Street, designed by noted Philadelphia architect Frank Furness. It now houses the nonprofit, preservation-oriented Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and is open as a museum of late Victorian life (daily in summer, weekends only in winter; $8; 609/884-5404).
Pick up walking-tour maps of some of the town’s 600 listed historic buildings, and do a taste-test of Cape May’s many architecturally magnificent, mostly Victorian-era bed-and-breakfasts. These include the mansard-roofed Queen Victoria ($95 and up; 609/884-8702) at 102 Ocean Street, and the Mainstay Inn ($120 and up; 609/884-8690) at 735 Columbia Avenue, which has a spacious verandah opening on to gorgeous gardens. Cape May’s oldest and most atmospheric place to stay is the Southern gothic Chalfonte Hotel ($80–140; 609/884-8409), located at 301 Howard Street. What the Chalfonte lacks in TVs, telephones, and air-conditioning, it more than makes up for with a bank of rocking chairs, full breakfasts, and huge, down-home dinners—all included in the rates.
Places to eat, including a dozen or so bakeries, cafés, restaurants, and bars, can be found along the pedestrian-friendly few blocks of Washington Street at the center of town. The best seafood restaurants, naturally enough, are near the marina on the north edge of town, off US-9.
