Cape May Jigsaw Puzzles

A seaside resort at the tip of New Jersey

The Dutch captain Cornelius Jacobsen Mey charted this coast between 1611 and 1614, and the town still carries his name. By the middle of the 18th century, visitors from Philadelphia were already coming here to enjoy the sea air, which is why Cape May is often called one of the oldest seaside resorts in the country. Congress Hall opened in 1816 and became one of the best-known hotels on the shore. The borough of Cape Island was formed in 1848, and in 1863 the Tuckahoe and Cape May Railroad made the trip much easier. The town took the name Cape May City in 1869.

Fire, rebuilding and the painted ladies

A fire on August 31, 1869, destroyed the post office and at least 35 other buildings. A far bigger blaze followed in 1878, burning for five days and wiping out about 30 blocks of the town center. Owners rebuilt quickly, mostly in the Victorian styles of the day, and the architect Stephen Decatur Button was one of the busiest designers of the new Cape May. The Cape May Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and named a National Historic Landmark on May 11, 1976. Those colorful porches and towers are the painted ladies you will find in many of these puzzles.

Five things you might not know about Cape May

1. Cape May is the only city in the United States that is entirely a National Historic Landmark district, with more than 600 buildings across about 380 acres.
2. The Cape May Lighthouse was completed in 1859 and stands 157 feet 6 inches tall, with 217 steps to the top.
3. Benjamin Harrison used Congress Hall as his Summer White House.
4. The Emlen Physick Estate was built in 1878 and 1879 and is attributed to the Philadelphia architect Frank Furness; volunteers saved it from demolition around 1970.
5. The Cape May Warbler is named after the place, and the Cape May Bird Observatory, founded in 1975, studies the thousands of birds that pass through each spring and fall.

Sources: Wikipedia: Cape May, New Jersey · Wikipedia: Cape May Historic District · Wikipedia: Cape May Light · Wikipedia: Cape May Bird Observatory