Cape Island NJ History
Philadelphia newspapers advertised rooms, meals and amusements as early as 1801. Hotels, transportation services, gambling casinos and restaurants followed in short order, establishing Cape Island as one of America's earliest seaside resorts. Side by side, Cape May residents pursued agriculture, fisheries, shipbuilding, glass making, shipping and tourism. By the 1850's, twenty large resort hotels were established on Cape Island to take advantage of the summer surge of business.
Wealthy Southerners, seeking to escape the oppressive heat and humidity of the Tidewater summer found welcome relief in Cape May. This era ended with the advent of the Civil War and Cape May's tourism business did not recover until the late 1860's. Rail transportation came to Cape May in 1863 and with the advent of regular steam packet transportation down the Delaware and across the Bay, new travelers and vacationers came to the Jersey Cape. Luxurious "cottages" were built during these post-war boom times. Cape May's "gilded age" had arrived.
Elegant hotels, summer cottages, gentlemen's gambling clubs, bath houses, ice cream parlors, cafes and smoke shops flourished during the eight week "high" season. Hops, cotillions, entertainments, concerts and other social events filled the calendar each summer. Tourism continued to be only a part of the Cape May economy. Agriculture and fisheries as well as shipping kept Cape May residents busy the year round.