Cape May Mansions by the Sea Trolley Tour
Monday, July 13th, 2009
Lovely Historic Cape May
Mondays through Saturdays at 10:45 am, guests of our Cape May NJ bed and breakfast may ride through history on the Mansions by the Sea Trolley Tour. Sit comfortably in a historic trolley and gaze at some of the most magnificent buildings built in Cape May. You’ll see small beach and large cottages from the 1870s, enormous hotels from the same era, and contemporary architecture as well. While you look, you will listen to a fascinating story by the guide.
It’s fun to consider the development of Cape May this way. Our town was destroyed by a fire in 1878, and out of the ashes rose the beautiful town that we see around us today. There are a good number of colorful mansions decked out with gingerbread trim – affectionately known as “painted ladies”. They were summer homes for the well-to-do back in the day, when Cape May was playground to residents of Philadelphia and New York. Once these homes became unaffordable for the families who owned them (not many people need 8+ bedrooms these days), they faced demolition by bulldozer. Fortunately, they were saved in 1976 when the entire town was listed as a National Historic Landmark. Now many of those grand old painted ladies are Cape May bed and breakfasts, like our own. We love our old girl, and hope she’ll be around to be enjoyed by many generations to come.
