South Cape May, New Jersey

West Cape May is a Walsh Act borough in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough, and all of Cape May County, is part of the South Jersey region of the state and of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area, which is part of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD combined statistical area, also known as the Delaware Valley or Philadelphia metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 1,010, a decrease of 14 (−1.4%) from the 2010 census count of 1,024, which in turn reflected a decline of 71 (−6.5%) from the 1,095 counted in the 2000 census.West Cape May was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 17, 1884, from portions of Lower Township, based on the results of a referendum held two days earlier. The borough was reincorporated on April 11, 1890, and again on May 4, 1897. The borough's name derives from Cape May, which was named for 1620 Dutch captain named Cornelius Jacobsen May who explored and charted the area between 1611 and 1614, and established a claim for the province of New Netherland.During Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, West Cape May was hit by 9.53 inches (242 mm) of rain, the most of any place in the state.West Cape May had been a dry town until May 2012, when a new store opened after the Board of Commissioners approved the sale of a liquor license for more than $600,000. In 2008, voters approved a referendum that allowed the issuance of a single license for retail liquor sales and another for sale of alcoholic beverages at a restaurant. The borough had been dry for 128 years, where alcohol cannot be sold, affirmed by the results of a referendum held in 1940, joining Cape May Point, Ocean City and Wildwood Crest among municipalities in Cape May restricting the sale of alcohol.

Whilldin–Miller House is located in West Cape May, Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. The front portion of the house was built in 1860 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 12, 2003. The original timber frame 2-story house remaining in the rear was built by Joseph Whilldin about 1715.

Willow Creek Winery is a winery in West Cape May in Cape May County, New Jersey. Formerly a produce farm, the vineyard was first planted in 2005, and opened to the public in 2012. Willow Creek has 40 acres of grapes under cultivation, and produces 6,000 cases of wine per year. The winery has recently purchased Legates Farm Market and is cultivating an additional 68 acres under vine. The winery is named for a large willow tree near the owner's residence, and the Pond Creek, a stream that borders the farm.

West Cape May School District is a community public school district located in West Cape May in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, that serves students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. In the 2016–17 school year, the district had 98 students, making it the eighth-smallest district in the state.The district has been a participant in the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program.As of the 2021–22 school year, the district, comprised of one school, had an enrollment of 88 students and 10.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 8.6:1.The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "DE", the fifth-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.For seventh through twelfth grades, public school students attend the schools of the Lower Cape May Regional School District, which serves students from Cape May, Lower Township and West Cape May, along with students from Cape May Point who attend as part of a sending/receiving relationship. Schools in the district (with 2021–22 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Richard M. Teitelman Middle School with 439 students in grades 7 and 8, and Lower Cape May Regional High School with 764 students in grades 9-12.In 2013, the Lower Cape May Regional School District received a feasibility study that looked at ways to reconfigure the district, which had been established in 1956. The study considered Cape May City withdrawing from the regional district or the dissolution of the district, converting Lower Township's existing PreK-6 district to serve PreK-12, as the regional district's school facilities are located in the township. Cape May City and West Cape May could see annual savings approaching a combined $6 million from the dissolution.

Congress Hall is a historic hotel in Cape May, Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, occupying a city block bordered on the south by Beach Avenue and on the east by Washington Street Mall. It is a contributing building in the Cape May National Historic District.Congress Hall was first constructed in 1816 as a wooden boarding house for guests to the new seaside resort of Cape May; and the proprietor, Thomas H. Hughes, called it "The Big House." Locals, thinking it too big to be successful, called it "Tommy's Folly." In 1828, when Hughes was elected to the House of Representatives, he changed the name of the hotel to Congress Hall. It burned to the ground in Cape May's Great Fire of 1878, but within a year, its owners had rebuilt the hotel in brick. While serving as President of the United States, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Ulysses S. Grant and Benjamin Harrison vacationed at Congress Hall, and Harrison made Congress Hall his official Summer White House. It thus became the center of state business for several months each year. John Philip Sousa regularly visited Congress Hall with the U.S. Marine Band and composed the "Congress Hall March", which he conducted on its lawn in the summer of 1882. During the 20th century, the Cape May seafront deteriorated. In 1968 Congress Hall was purchased by the Rev. Carl McIntire and became part of his Cape May Bible Conference. McIntire's possession of the property preserved the hotel during a period in which many Victorian-era beachfront hotels were demolished for the value of their land. With the decline of the Bible Conference, Congress Hall fell into a state of disrepair. The property was partially restored under the guidance of Curtis Bashaw, McIntire's grandson, a restoration begun in 1995 and completed in 2002. Today, Congress Hall is a fully functioning, high-end resort hotel and part of the Cape Resorts family of hotels.

The Cape May Stage is a theatre company that performs in the Robert Shackleton Playhouse located at the corner of Bank and Lafayette Streets in downtown Cape May, New Jersey, United States.

Washington Street is a major east-west street in downtown Cape May, New Jersey. It begins at Lafayette Street (New Jersey Route 109) and (officially) ends at Ocean Street. Unofficially, there is a walkway, named the Washington Street Mall, between Ocean Street and Perry Street. Washington Street Mall is filled with restaurants and stores, and, beside Cape May's beaches and Victorian houses, is one of the city's most noticeable features. Washington Street is parallel with Lafayette Street for all of its length.

The Cape May City Rail Terminal is a passenger train station in Cape May, New Jersey. The station offered train service from 1863 through 1981. The station area last had regional passenger train service by the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in the mid-1960s. Final service into Camden, New Jersey (across the Delaware River from Philadelphia) ended in January 1966, while service to Lindenwold station ended in October 1981.Train service resumed in 1999, but stopped in 2005 due to structural concerns, but resumed again in 2010. The terminal is located at the intersection of Lafayette and Elmira Streets. Service was suspended after 2012 following extensive vandalism of the rail line. In 2015 the City of Cape May announced a proposal for parking space expansion that would pave over the tracks.

The Carroll Villa is a historic hotel in Cape May, New Jersey. It is a contributing property in the Cape May Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. The hotel is a 19th-century Victorian-style structure. Some characteristic features are its stout cupola, long windows, and a blue and white symmetrical front. There is a yellow-and-white-striped awning on the porch, a garden terrace in the back, and skylights on the roof. The Carroll Villa has 19 guest rooms. It was named after Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.The Carroll Villa was built in 1882. In 1976, World War II veteran and Legion of Honor recipient Harry Kulkowitz opened the Mad Batter restaurant in the hotel, getting the idea while playing poker in the hotel. The name comes from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Kulkowitz purchased the hotel in 1978. In 1983, a review in The New York Times praised the Mad Batter for its lychee duck and snow peas, introduced after Kulkowitz visited Thailand and brought back a chef. He did major renovations on the hotel in 1985, introducing air conditioning, refurbishing antique furniture, and adding a bathroom to every guest room. In 2016, Kulkowitz's son Mark and his wife Pam Huber, who currently own the hotel and restaurant, renovated the front porch to become a year-round gathering spot. Plexiglas panels and additional seating was added to accommodate live music. Harry Kulkowitz died on August 22, 2017.The Mad Batter's specialty is its breakfast. The oatmeal pancakes were praised by the Boston Globe as "simple, hearty, and a trusty companion to any breakfast drink." The orange and almond French toast is made with thick brioche bread soaked in cream and orange juice and then fried and topped with almonds. Belgian waffles with pecans is a favorite of restaurant manager Marta Cobleigh. The crab cake Eggs Benedict has been acclaimed by food critics and is popular with customers.

Cape May (sometimes Cape May City) is a city and seaside resort located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean, it is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations. The city, and all of Cape May County, is part of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area, and is part of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD combined statistical area, also known as the Delaware Valley or Philadelphia metropolitan area.As of the 2020 United States census, the city's resident population was 2,768, a decrease of 839 (−23.3%) from the 2010 census count of 3,607, which in turn reflected a decline of 427 (−10.6%) from the 4,034 counted in the 2000 census. In the summer, Cape May's population is expanded by as many as 40,000 to 50,000 visitors. The entire city of Cape May is designated the Cape May Historic District, a National Historic Landmark due to its concentration of Victorian architecture. In 2008, Cape May was recognized as one of the top 10 beaches in the United States by the Travel Channel. It is part of the South Jersey region of the state.

Harriet Tubman Museum is a museum in Cape May, New Jersey, about Harriet Tubman. It is in the Howell House, which used to be the Macedonia Baptist Church's parsonage facility. The facility was renovated to hold the museum.It had a virtual opening coinciding with Juneteenth (June 17, 2020). It physically opened on Thursday September 17, 2020, with Governor Phil Murphy attending. Murphy had approved a bill designating this as the state's official Harriet Tubman Museum. The museum refers to Tubman's time living in Cape May.The formal opening to the public was on Juneteenth in 2021.

The Episcopal Church of the Advent / St. John's Chapel is an historic Carpenter Gothic style Episcopal church building located at Franklin and Washington streets in Cape May, Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. Its board and batten siding, steep roofs, lancet windows and rose window are distinguishing features of Carpenter Gothic style architecture, although it lacks the usual belfry tower front entrance. Designed by the architect Henry Sims, it was built by Richard Soder beginning in 1865 for St. John's Chapel, a "summer chapel", which had been organized two years earlier. It was not consecrated, however, until 1871.In 1950, St. John's merged with the Episcopal Church of the Advent, which had been formed in 1899 to serve the needs of local Episcopalians during the other three seasons of the year. The new congregation took the name Episcopal Church of the Advent / St. John's Chapel. It is an active parish in the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey. Its rector is the Rev. H. Alan Leonard. The Rev. Daniel Hall is assisting clergy.The Episcopal Church of the Advent / St. John's Chapel is a contributing property in the Cape May Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.