About Historic Cape May, NJ.
Cape May, a resort town at the southern-most tip of New Jersey, internationally famous for its Victorian splendor. Because of its vast amounts of Victorian architecture, the entire city of Cape May was designated a National Historic Landmark in the 1970s. Cape May was known as the "Queen of the Seaside Resorts" in the 19th century. Wealthy Philadelphians vacationed in Cape May, making it one of the premier seaside destinations of the era. A fire in the 1870 destroyed many of Cape May's huge wooden hotels, and the destroyed buildings were replaced with smaller, wood-frame "cottages."
Cape May fell into decline as other resorts such as Atlantic City and the Wildwoods became more modern and attracted crowds away from Cape May. In the 1950s and 1960s, many citizens wanted to tear down the old, run-down Victorian buildings in the city and replace them with motels and other attractions, as Wildwood had done. However, some preservation-minded citizens fought these efforts and secretly won Cape May the designation as a National Historic Landmark City. The old Victorian buildings were renovated and reopened as restaurants, shops, and bed-and-breakfast inns.
