Subtitle: Cape May, New Jersey--An Illustrated History
Author: Emil R. Salvini
Subject: New Jersey and the Region
Cloth ISBN 0-8135-2261-7
Pages: 152 pp. 11 x 8.25, 158 b&w illus.
Description:
In this richly illustrated celebration of the nation's oldest seaside resort, Emil R. Salvini leads the reader through Cape May's two hundred tumultuous years, which have forever earned it the moniker "Queen of the Seaside Resorts."
During its beginning as a coastal getaway not for New Jerseyans but for Philadelphians, middle-class families would endure the two-day journey to the site then known as Cape Island. With the advent of the steamboat and the railroad, the Cape became the premier destination for vacationers from surrounding areas.
In the 1880s, however, traffic slowed and the city entered a period of decline. Subsequent attempts at modernization failed, which actually saved the quaint wooden village that is visited by so many today.
Eventually, residents realized that the future of the Cape lay in the past. Preservation advocates succeeded in reviving interest in the resort, resulting in Cape May being designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
Readers of The Summer City by the Sea will be tempted to take the last exit off the Garden State Parkway. While fashionable resorts come and go, Cape May endures, a tribute to its tenacity and tradition.
Emil R. Salvini, president of Wheal-Grace in Belleville, New Jersey, resides in Wayne and spends summers in Cape May. He is past president of the North Jersey Highlands Historical Society, a life member of the Cape May County Historical Society, and a member of the mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts.
