. The movement was responsible for the election of a new preservationist mayor, and it was then that Cape May's great renaissance began. The entire city was designated a National){kind=link}
With pretty Victorian architecture and beautiful balmy summers, New Jersey’s Cape May has a pedigree that’s hard to beat
It was in the late 1700s that well-heeled Americans first discovered the joy of a seaside escape, and it was Cape May – in New Jersey, of all places – that first catered to these whims on a grand scale. And, in fact, it still does.
Once a small, unknown city on the Jersey shore, its newly laid roads made escaping to its golden sands an easy leap for Philadelphia and New York City’s elites – but it wasn’t until the 1800s that its true heyday dawned. Wealthy tourists from as far away as Washington DC flocked to the resort by steamboat, horse and carriage, and railroad, swapping the heat and noise of big cities for Cape May’s cooling sea breeze and roaring social scene, with promenades along the boardwalk by day, and balls and concerts at night.
Known as the “Queen of the Seaside Resorts”, it attracted big names, too. Presidents Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Ulysses S Grant, Chester Arthur and Benjamin Harrison all holidayed there, staying at the Congress Hall hotel, playing games of croquet and tennis on its beachfront lawns, and enjoying concerts from the likes of conductor John Philip Sousa, who performed there in 1882, composing Congress Hall March in its owners’ honour. Grand Victorian holiday homes and elaborate buildings sprang up all over the place, and as the years passed, eager holidaymakers continued to flock here.
But as tends to happen, things changed. With the rise of international travel and rival resorts, by the mid-20th century, tourism had begun to wane. By the 1970s, the city found itself at a crossroads, with scores of its beautiful historic buildings being torn down each year.