Top 10 Things to Do In . . . Cape May, New Jersey
QUEEN VICTORIA WOULD BE PROUD
It is entirely possible to spend a few days in Cape May and never know it’s on the ocean, let alone a peninsula surrounded by water. The urbanscape of this National Register of Historic Places town is so classic hometown America, at least the popular imagination version, I’d almost expect it to show up in the next round of election TV adverts. Over 600 colorful spindled Queen Anne houses sit side by side filling the streets with character. Front yards display decorative wooden signs bearing period Bed and Breakfast names (“The Gables,” “The Queen Victoria”). Gaslight-style luminaire with flower boxes punctuate clean sidewalks. Narrow streets are shaded by grand old trees whose presence in most places has long since been supplanted by street signs bearing their names.
Aside from the density of houses and a few stores displaying beach decor, a person strolling through town could easily mistake themselves for being in a historic Hudson River hamlet or small San Francisco neighborhood (minus the hills and cold).
Ironically, the love and care taken to preserve the charm of the town does not seem to have extended to the oceanfront area in the tourist district. Although the sand and water are typical of any other found along the Atlantic Ocean, the dunes are completely gone, as is any sign of nature. There is nothing, no sea grass, no shrubs, nothing offering a visual or psychological break from the genuinely ugly and uninviting cement barrier and wide highway bordering the beach. The motels and restaurants lining the beach are the multistory, polyester bedspread, nondescript buildings you’d find offering hourly rates off the highway in most cities. Adding insult to injury, the one-time visitor has to pay a fee to use the beach (around $15 for the weekend).
On a positive note, you can drive or take a trolley tour to areas with more natural beaches (see Sunset Beach below) and overall, a Cape May vacation is very versatile. The compulsive shopper, birder, tour-fanatic, nature lover, and pool/sunworshipper can all have an equally great time. There are plenty of things to do in Cape May beyond sunbathing.
ADDENDUM: Numerous people from Cape May have written me directly or in comments below stating I am blind or have a large misconception of the vegetation and dunes in Cape May. After discussions with them over email, it is clear to me they have different standards of what constitutes nature on a beach. As this website is done to my standards and for Oceanistas who are looking for similar standards, I stand by my original assertion. To me, the beach immediately available to tourists staying in town who don’t want to schlep 10 blocks up the beach, or take a car ride to get to the beach, is simply not the type I would want in a weekend Ocean destination. Compare the dunes, vegetation and landscaping (e.g. concrete sea wall) to Kiawah South Carolina, North Carolina, The Hamptons, Long Beach Island, etc.. and the beach is simpy not on a par with them. Be your own judge. I uploaded the photos Cape May residents have sent me to our Cape May Facebook page, so you can decide yourself.
Body of Water
The closest body of water is 0 miles away: Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay.
MAP
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TOP TEN THINGS TO DO
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SHABBY CHIC & LOCAL SHOPPING WEST END GARAGE Capitalizing on the local trend, this refurbished garage is a cooperative selling goods from 15+ local artisans. Handmade pillows with bold orange and black prints; hammered silver rings; whitewashed armoires, bookcases, and Victorian sofas; fabric hula-hoops, 200 varieties of handmade hats, and watercolors splashed with whites, blues, reds and yellows. Basically, you could easily decorate an 8 bedroom beach house with the furniture, art and accessories here. The products are definitely a big step up from most farmer’s market type chintz-wrapped lampshades, Winslow Homer-gone-bad-brushstroke seashore paintings and cobweb encrusted antique dolls. |
 Photo by Dendroica cerulea (via Flickr)  Photo by Jim (via Flickr) |
AMERICA’S SECOND LIGHTHOUSE?CAPE MAY LIGHTHOUSE To Oceanistas like me, lighthouses are like chocolate. All are great, but some are truly spectacular, usually thanks to an extraordinary view of, or proximity to, water. The lighthouse at Cape May is one of my favorites not only because of the view: at 157 feet high in a town with few structures above 4 stories, you can see nearly 20 miles in either direction to Wildwood (North), Cape Henlopen (South) and out over the endless Atlantic ocean, on a clear day. The beauty of the 150 year old structure, a solid white tower topped with a simple red cupola exudes the quiet authority of which romance novels and fisherman’s tales are made. Now under control of the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities, you can climb the 199 steps on your own, or go with one of their trolley tours. My preference is a daytime climb followed by one of their monthly full moon tours. |
 Flag Ceremony by kjarrett (via Flickr)  Sunset by Tony the Misfit (via Flickr)  Pebbles on Sunset Beach by proteinbiochemist (via Flickr) |
DIG A DIAMOND SUNSET BEACHNow that I’ve basically slagged this town for callous disregard of its best natural resource, it’s only fair to point out one beach well worth the trip. Sunset beach, appropriately named, is almost the southern most point in New Jersey and, as the name implies, is known for remarkable sunsets. Even locals will come here in the evenings to watch the sky turn out reds, purples, and finally blues over the ocean, hard to find on the East Coast. In the summer, Marvin Hume asks children to volunteer to help him lower the US servicepeople’s casket flag hanging over the beach. He then teaches children the proper way to fold a flag and a little story behind how he acquired them. Another local secret is the Rose Quartz crystals found along the shore. Looking almost exactly like diamonds, a favorite past time (and completely free) is mining through the rocks lining the beach looking for these gems. Aside from being a wide, sandy beach that’s fun to walk (with shoes, its rocky), there’s a miniature golf course, souvenir shop, cafe, and peeking through the water is the last remnants of a sunk concrete ship (the USS Atlantus). Dog lovers take note: it’s one of the only beaches along the Jersey shore furry friends are allowed in season. |
 Yellow Rumped Warbler by hjhipster (via Flickr)  Head of a Red-tail by Dendroica cerulea (via Flickr) |
A BIRDER’S PARADISE BIRDINGCape May is considered a birder’s paradise in Fall because of the thousands of migrating birds that use this as a rest stop along the way to Canada and other parts North. The Cape May Bird Observatory run by New Jersey’s Audubon includes two information centers where staff are more than happy to help visiting ornithologists, weekly walks, photo safaris, kayak tours, festivals, workshops, visits to a local bird breeding farm, lectures, and boat outings. Begin by downloading the Cape May Birding Map, spotlighting prime places to see birds and butterflies, then pick up The Kestrel Express locally, or visit the events section of their website. |
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SIZE MATTERS LOUISA’SGenerally I find small restaurants, and by small I mean small: Louisa’s has 20 seats and only serves dinner, trustworthy. Restaurants that run out of food by the end of the evening are particularly trustworthy. And restaurants with a very limited menu are super extremely trustworthy. Put all three together and you have the antithesis of McDonalds. Louisa’s embodies a living food ideology: feed a few and feed them well. And by well I mean well as in good, well as in well-ness/health, and well as in good for the planet. The foods where possible are locally sourced, cooked to order, and rely on quality ingredients to bring out flavor, not slabs of butter or fat. After eating at several locally recommended spots, we can declare Louisa’s unquestionably the best restaurant in Cape May. Gecko and Blue Pig were two other standouts. |
 Star Inn Room 22 Living Room  Star Inn Kitchenette 
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STAY & SPLASH CONGRESS HALL POOL & ACCOMMODATIONS Staying at a Cape Resort Group property is the only choice for Oceanistas seeking the comforts of home (down comforters, firm mattresses, clean bathrooms), use of a resort pool, and a central location. Fortunately, accommodation types suit all kinds of travelers: romantic couples at the adults-only Victoria inn, families in the suites of The Star Motel Inn, multi-generationals or larger families in one of the cottages, or big groups at Congress Hall. Each is less than a 2 minute walk to the pool, has relatively upscale interiors and decor they certainly intended to be a bit edgy and contemporary—to me it came across as a bit disjointed, as if they either had a manic-depressive interior decorator or ran out of budget halfway through. For example, our room had a nice bed, great framed tulip print, and schoolhouse stools, but the kitchen could have been ripped straight out of the never-renovated rent-control apartment I inhabited when I went to Berkeley 20 years ago. The service too was variable: some staff such as Ryan at the pool and Maria at the Blue Pig Tavern went out of their way to be helpful. Others, seemed to be following policy to a fault. |
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TROLLEY & QUIRKY TOURS MID-ATLANTIC CENTER FOR THE ARTS TOURSCape May Tours are a quick way for first time visitors to get an overview of the area and see the buildings that make the area an architectural standout. The Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities runs over 30 different tours throughout the year ranging from your traditional highlights to more quirky options like the “Unzipped” tour (humorous Cape May happenings over the years), the ghost tour (nothing scary or gory, all ages), Cape May in Blue & Grey (Civil War years in Cape May) and the popular Cape May Lighthouse tour. As a veteran of extraordinary ghost tours taken in places like Edinburgh and Savannah, I would like to see their version made more dramatic and engaging. A jaded narrator dressed as a Victorian ghost, presumably, was friendly but really didn’t hold my attention for long. Still, it gave me a chance to see parts of town we might not otherwise have gone to. |
  
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TAFFY, TEE-SHIRTS & TOURS WASHINGTON STREET MALLAfter a full day on the beach or at the pool, the whole town seems to go to the Washington Street Mall. A wide, three block-long pedestrian precinct filled with local family-owned shops, restaurants, benches, fountains, memorials to mariners, and an occasional busker. The spirit is upbeat as kids chase each other, couples walk arm in arm summarizing the day’s book, and shoppers pick up goodies for folks at home. Temptations abound with products two steps above the usual tourist schlock, and prices are definitely set with visitors in mind. My favorite stops included Fralinger’s Salt Water Taffy where 30 bins of colorful taffy are ready to assault unsuspecting teeth; Bath Time, a luscious display of artisan soaps, candles and a make-your-own scent bath products bar; Authentic Sportswear for the obligatory Cape May or Exit 0 tee-shirt/sweatshirt; and Cape May on Canvas showcasing Scott Griswald’s art and other gentle beach house-worthy wall art.The ticket booth for tram tours, and start of the tours, is at one end of Washington Street Mall. |
 Ferry by Madbuster75 (via Flickr)  Lewes Lighthouse by acetonic (via Flickr) |
CHEAP CRUISE  CAPE MAY LEWES FERRYOne of the least expensive ways to get out on the water for a quick cruise or a good chance to add another popular beach area to your itinerary. For $10 round-trip, passengers without cars can see some of the sites that make this area so memorable (the Cape May Lighthouse, dolphins in the surf) or just stare out at the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean for 90 minutes. A shuttle followed by a public bus connects the ferry to Rehobeth Beach and Ocean City, making it easy to do a day trip to these popular ocean resorts without the extra 3 hours of driving. |
 Physick Estate by patwalsh_2000 (via Flickr)  Photo by vipnyc (via Flickr) |
TOUR AN INTACT VICTORIAN MANSION EMLEN PHYSICK ESTATE TOURIt always seems so romantic to envision what life must have been like in the olden days. Especially life as a member of a prominent Philadelphia family with a patriarch who invented surgical techniques still used today, living in a grand Victorian resembling the set for a Tim Burton film. The reality may have been slightly less exciting than our vision (I’d take a small apartment and modest income over no antibiotics or indoor plumbing any day), but this tour still demonstrates a damn impressive lifestyle. They use anecdotes about family life, point out decor features and give a history of the time that gives a sense of what life was really like for the three people who lived here (Emlen Physick Jr., his widowed mother, Frances Ralston, and his maiden aunt Emilie Parmentier). At $10 for a 45+ tour, its a great way to get a deeper understanding of how this seaside resort came to be and what it was like 130 years ago. |
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Category: Cape May, New Jersey, Top 10
All beaches in New Jersey charge for tags (except for a few state park beaches), so if you go to the Jersey Shore, expect to pay for beach tags as this is nothing new! No shore town can beat Cape May… concrete wall or not!
Totally agree. Cape May is a great NJ town, love the architecture!
No vegetation? No dunes? Your powers of observation need some attention.
I think this writer had too much sun in his glasses to mistake the beach front at void of vegetation. The beach front has lovely dunes and beach grass that provide a visual treat. From Poverty Beach to the Cove, there is vegetation along the promenade including beach grasses, bushes and poison ivy. By the way, Beach Ave is hardly a wide highway.
{Although the sand and water are typical of any other found along the Atlantic Ocean, the dunes are completely gone, as is any sign of nature. There is nothing, no sea grass, no shrubs, nothing offering a visual or psychological break from the genuinely ugly and uninviting cement barrier and wide highway bordering the beach. }
Perhaps your writer needs to come back with a camera and let one of us who lives here show you the beauty of the beach front complete with vegetation and dunes. Take a picture, as the memories of this fantasy land will then last longer and can be relived when you are miles away behind a desk doing your job.
Hi Beverly, thanks for taking the time to post! You can see my response below to this same type of comment. Could you please either upload photos of what you consider to be vegetation, and I’ll happily edit the post if you prove me wrong, or email me directly with them and I’ll upload them. The 10 minutes of beach we walked from The Star Motel up the coast was just sand and water with nothing we’d consider dunes like in Kiawah or Amagansett. And FYI.. no desk in my life. We are always on the go looking for good spots to write about.
With your inept description of beach life in Cape May and the Jersey Shore I find it remarcable that you were able to aptly describe and credit just a small number of the many things that contribute to the mystic that brings families to return year after year to “their Cape May”….It would not be difficult for a collection to be taken that would generate sufficient funds to send you to San Francisco and leave you there….
Sincerelt,
Pat and Connie Killion
Hello Pat and Connie: Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on The Oceanista! So, you clearly think I’ve misunderstood Cape May. Please share with our readers what you would have written. Please give us the top 10 places that a person visiting Cape May for a 2 day trip should do as their Top 10. Remember that our audience is seeing this as a resort and therefore, does not want to drive, so places must be in easy walking distance or easy to get to by tour or a quick drive. And thank you for your generous offer of getting a collection together. If you would be so kind, my dream is to have a house on Kiawah Island, South Carolina and I welcome all assistance to make it happen more quickly! Just let me know what I need to do to get your fundraising kickstarted! Looking forward to hearing what you love about Cape May (and remember to share it on our Facebook page as well).
Not sure what to say about the above review except I feel sorry for you.
I’m baffled. Which part of the beach did you visit? There have been efforts to restore the dunes in Cape May for many years, since I was young. There’s actually quite a lot of beach grass at the entrances now all along Beach Avenue, with signage not to disturb the dunes.
(And it’s a bit unfair to call Beach Avenue a “highway,” considering its 25 mph speed limit and whopping 2-mile length.)
Hi Jessica! Thank you for responding. It is always nice to get a comment that does not come from “porn hub” or “get car insurance now.” We stayed at The Star Motel/Congress and walked for about 10 minutes along the beach and did not see anything resembling what you would find in Long Beach Island, The Hamptons, or my personal favorite place on earth: Kiawah Island. While I hope they continue their efforts, we did not feel much beach love while we were there compared to the multiple destinations we have been in the past. And as for the highway, again, if you compare it to places like the beach road next to Amagansett or Long Beach Island or Cape Cod, it was much much less picturesque, and much more congested. If you want to send me pictures of the places you consider dunes and grassy areas, I’d be happy to post them in this post and also you can do so on our Facebook page. I’m always willing to be open minded if you think you can convince me otherwise. PS Do you mind telling me how you found out about the post? We are not even live yet and we have received so many comments from people near Cape May, I just can’t understand how they are finding us when we aren’t even pushing live yet. Thanks, Sam
CapeMay.com received a pingback from the post last week, which is how we found out about your article. We then posted the link to our Facebook page on Friday, which is probably where a lot of the comments are coming from. The die-hard Cape May lovers are pretty protective!