Visiting Historic Cape May

Visiting Cape May by boat
May 27, Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.
(written mostly by Doug)

Several nice things about traveling by boat: no waking up in strange hotel rooms, you don’t have to pack up your suitcase every morning, and when you arrive in a new town it shows you a completely different face than it shows the highway. We parked the Winnie W. alongside a dock right at the edge of the city, and it was a short bike ride into the historic town.

We spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday in Cape May, bicycling around the historic district when we arrived, and the next day toured the historic district by trolley, with a stop at the Physick House which is an interesting story and a good example of the Victorian homes popular in Cape May. We also bicycled to the Cape May lighthouse, which had excellent exhibits about area wildlife. Speaking of wildlife, Hank was happy to go ashore and run on solid land!

Cape May is the oldest seaside resort in the US; the upper crust were building summer “cottages” there in the early 1800s. You can see many different types of classic architecture although the Victorians get the most attention. The house in the photo was built in 1881. We took a trolley ride around town learning about Italianate cupolas and Queen Anne columns, then took a break for fudge & ice cream.

To burn some calories we rode our bikes out to the lighthouse (about 3 miles, not exactly Ironman competition). There is a large nature preserve & sanctuary, along with more historical exhibits about the Indians, whaling, and shipwrecks. The remains of a large wartime bunker & artillery battery can be seen. During World War 1 & 2, there were several sinkings by U-boats right off the Cape; and at the end of WW2 a U-boat captain surrendered by radio then came here.

Altogether this was a great stop.

Doug & Kathie