It’s time to celebrate the arrival of spring, even if some days it doesn’t feel very springlike out there. Spring really is here – we know because our flowers are coming up and we have enjoyed the front porch of our Cape May NJ Bed and Breakfast more than once in the last few weeks.

Ah, spring at last!

The Cape May Spring Festival celebrates the arrival of warm weather with gusto. It explores many interesting aspects of Victorian times: spirituality, music, dance, architecture, and more. In addition to the Victorian emphasis, there are many ways to enjoy the here and now: wine tasting, dining, homes tours, murder mystery dinners, and boat tours.

A few weeks after the picture above - how wonderful to watch the garden grow.

Favorite Spring Festival events:

• Historic Haunts Combo Tour
• Victorian Spiritualism Lecture
• Seminar on Victorian Women
• Cape May’s Victorian Architecture Lecture
• Chocolate Championship Tour and Tasting (it is as decadent as it sounds)
• Winery Cellar Tour and Tasting
• Vintage Dance Workshops: learn the most popular historic dances.
• Vintage Ball: wear historic finery and sweep across the dance floor.
• Around Cape Island Boat Tour
• Spring Festival Crafts and Antiques
• Spring Festival Chefs’ Dine-Around

We still have availability at our Cape May NJ Bed and Breakfast during the Cape May Spring Festival, April 28 – May 8, 2011. Join us!

Please visit Cape May Spring Festival for additional information about events.

The 35th Annual Cape May Jazz Festival
April 8 – 10, 2011

The Cape May Jazz Festival is really quite extraordinary. It brings a great variety of outstanding jazz musicians to a picturesque seacoast town. Jazz fans easily make the drive from New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and northern New Jersey to listen to some of their favorite musicians in an idyllic setting; many stay in our welcoming Cape May Bed and Breakfast, the John F. Craig House.

Unlike many music festivals in large cities, the Cape May Jazz Festival is a relaxing and stress-free experience. Given the location of our Bed and Breakfast Cape May, it’s possible for our guests to walk to many of the festival venues. We also promise to feed you a delicious breakfast if you sleep in after a late night.

Kevin Eubanks at the Cape May Jazz Festival, April 8, 2011. Photo by Raj Naik.

Cape May Jazz Festival 2011 Highlights include:

• Kevin Eubanks
• Poncho Sanchez
• Point Blank with Gerald Chavis

Get comfortable at one venue and listen to whomever is on stage, or hop in and out of several venues over the course of an afternoon or evening. The close proximity of the venues makes wandering between them a cinch.

To learn more about the festival or to purchase tickets, please visit Cape May Jazz Festival. To reserve a room in our Cape May Bed and Breakfast, call 877-544-0314.

Below are some photographs taken by New Years Eve Birthday Girl Marie Rose Bloomer. Marie has celebrated many birthdays with us here at our Cape May Bed and Breakfast, as well as other special events.

The photographs are from Marie Rose’s 2010/2011 stay at our Bed and Breakfast Cape May. We’re already looking forward to next year!

Marie Rose Bloomer on the front steps of our inn.

20 years of welcoming the New Year on the beach of Cape May, and still going strong!

Thank you, Marie Rose, for sharing these wonderful photographs.

We first met Craig McManus not long after taking possession of our new Bed and Breakfast Cape May. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship that has blossomed over the years.

Craig McManus at our Cape May B&B, February 4, 5, 2011.

Craig McManus lives in our world – the world of the living, that is – but he has strong connections to the dead. Craig feels ghostly spirits and they in turn communicate with him. It may be difficult for skeptics to believe, but once you’ve met Craig, doubts tend to vanish.

Craig is a sleuth at heart. He feels presences and does his best to figure out who and what they are. He is drawn to places with a good deal of paranormal activity, and thus he is drawn to the Victorian Seaside town of Cape May, New Jersey. He’s been coming here regularly for about twenty years.

Our Cape May Bed and Breakfast, the John F. Craig House, first caught Craig’s attention in the early 1990s; but it wasn’t until a few years later that he visited the house during a house tour. Once inside, his curiosity was truly piqued.

Over the ensuing years, Craig has stayed at the inn many times. He now regularly offers weekend events at John F. Craig. Guests have the opportunity to participate in a group séance and to meet with Craig one-on-one. We never know what we’ll get, but thanks to Craig’s warmth and humor, we always have a good time.

Upcoming Craig McManus weekends are February 4-5, 2011 and March 18-19, 2011. As of this writing, there are two rooms available for the February weekend.

For more information about the Craig McManus weekends at our Bed and Breakfast Cape May, please see our events page or call 877-544-0314. For some of Craig’s observations about our inn, please see his recent article in capemay.com.

Some couples like long engagements. They enjoy the planning and the suspense. Others don’t feel the need to wait. Once they’ve decided to get married, they figure they may as well do it as soon as possible.

Bill Harleman and Kate Oliveria - newly engaged.

Either option is wonderful, of course.

It is always an honor and a joy for couples to choose to marry in our Cape May bed and breakfast. While we can’t host large events, we can certainly make room for small affairs – even fairly spontaneous ones. We are also happy to host couples before and after the big event. If need be, we may even be called upon to bear witness at a Cape May wedding. Give us a call.