Jersey Shore – South of Atlantic City – Trish & Anne RV Adventures

On Saturday, May 10 we moved down the Jersey shore to Cape May. We had to pick up our car before noon and check-in at the campground was not until later in the afternoon. So we parked the RV at the WalMart, did a little shopping and then took the car and drove back north to Sea Isle, where if you look closely at the photo on the right, you can see Atlantic City on the horizon.

This is the boardwalk in Sea Isle, and then we walked along the beach.

This group of sanderlings were all huddling together on one of the jetties – just out of reach of the breaking waves – and then there were some wading.

Selfie on the beach – and a statue of a Diamondback Terrapin. – these guys live in the marshes, not the oceans.

Views of the streets in Sea Isle.

After getting into the campground and getting set-up, we still had time to drive into Cape May. We drove by the beach (on the other side of that bank) and checked out many of the streets downtown. Then we drove to sunset beach – but not for sunset. Those cormorants are sitting on what remains of the Atlantis, an experimental concrete ship built during World War 1. It was brought to Cape May in 1926 to be used as ferry dock in Cape May. But a storm hit and the ship broke free of her moorings – because of the weight of the ship it could not be rescued. That’s the ferry coming to Cape May from Cape Henlopen, DE. And that’s one of the watch towers that were built during WWII to watch for German U-Boats.

We took a trolley tour on Sunday – it gave us a good over view of the city and gave us a couple of places to go back to and check out in more detail. Cape May was founded by the Dutch in 1630, but the first government was established by the English in 1687. Although there had been summer visitors earlier, when steamboat traffic on the Delaware River became common place after the War of 1812, the resort business boomed and summer cottages were built. There was a fire in 1878 that destroyed about half the town, but it was quickly rebuilt. The whole downtown has been a National Historic Landmark District since 1976, and is said to have the largest collections of late 19th century frame buildings left in the United States. Here are some shots of the architecture in the city.

After the trolley tour, we had scheduled a tour of the Emlen Physick House. This is an 18-room mansion built in 1879 for Dr. Emlen Physick. He was the grandson of the person who invented the stomach pump and absorbable stitches. So, instead of becoming a doctor, immediately after earning his degree, he began to live off his inheritance. He never married and built this house, where he lived with his widowed mother and maiden aunt. The walls and ceiling were covered with Lincrusta – an embossed wallpaper that was made in England – yes, that was quite an inheritance. And the house actually had central heat, so the fireplaces were more for show than for heart.

Much of the furniture has been returned from extended family members, and those are actually Emlen’s records with the Victrola.

The building below is the carriage house, which is used as the visitor center – and they had a special exhibit about Tattoos – it was low key and kinda interesting. By then we needed some lunch, which we found at the Lobster House – flounder for Trish, lazy person’s crab for me and enough potatoes left to have at another meal. then it was back to the RV to do some laundry.

One of the places we wanted to go back to is called Cape May Point. This area was developed by a group of investors from Philadelphia in 1875. It was businessmen (including John Wanamaker – of the Philadelphia department store that housed what was once the largest organ in the world) and religious leaders that settled here, and it was part of the temperance movement. In fact, this little hamlet remains a dry town. There were several chapels and some cute cottages.

Then we went back to Sunset Beach, for a sunset! It turned out to be pretty colorful, and there were lot’s of people gathered there to watch. The picture with the tower and the moon is looking east – always remember to turn around if you are watching a sunset – you can be surprised by the colors you see in that direction. Then back to the RV for some Rummikub.

Monday we took the Birding by Boat Cruise sponsored by the local Audubon. In this post I will show you a few highlights of the trip and some birds that we rarely see – to see all the birds I was able to capture – see my post entitled Birding by Boat @ https://trishannervadventures.com/2025/05/22/birding-by-boat/.

Both the captain of the ship and the naturalist were great and spotting and knowing the birds. Below are Least Terns, Ruddy Turnstones, and some Brants – a type of goose.

This group of photos include a Semipalmated Plover, a Shortbilled Dowitcher, a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron and a Black-Crowned Heron.

Some other things we saw along the way were some boats that were part of the fishing fleet and a fish processing plant. We got close enough to Wildwood to see the water tower. When getting close up to the birds the captain would cut the engines, but we could also zip along between prime bird viewing sites.

A view of the shore, one of many bridges we went under, one of the Coast Guard boats and a sport fishing boat tour leaving port. Cape May is the one place in the US for enlistees in the Coast Guard to go to boot camp. The guide on the trolley tour said they are here for 8 weeks, and she sees them running through town on Sundays.

We had been told there was a rookery on the way into Ocean City, NJ so that afternoon we headed there. We saw White Ibis, Yellow-Crowned Night Heron, Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets working on their nests – even though there were already eggs in them, a flock of Glossy Ibis that flew in and some Black-Crowned Night Heron.

After getting our fill of the rookery, we went into Ocean City to see the sites. That first view is looking over the city from the rookery. Then you have a view of one of the streets as we were driving through town. We got out and walked the board walk – it had lanes for pedestrians, the Surry and runners and bicyclists, plus all the honky tonk tourist places. There was a nice beach, with piers and jetties.

There is a music venue right on the pier, and we saw a couple of groups of young dancers headed that way for some activity. We didn’t try to figure out what makes Polish water different, since we aren’t big on shaved ice. Instead we got some lemonade for the ride home (well back to the RV, which is home wherever it is parked.)

On Tuesday, May 13 we took the Painted Ladies walking tour of the historic district. After hearing about the fires that used to break out in the city, I was surprised to learn they still have gas lights in the historic district. Our guide said there are much better gas regulators so fire is no longer an issue.

I don’t remember the names of any of these houses, so I’m just going to included some photos with no commentary, so you can enjoy the architecture and plantings.

This one I do remember the name of – it is the Southern Mansion and is now a B&B. Originally built in 1863, it fell into disrepair in the 1960’s. It was bought by the woman who owns a local winery in 1996, and the rehab and renovations began. The original building was restored and the addition of more guest rooms makes it a wedding venue. We heard the if you want to get married in Cape May, you need to be planning at least three years out, and this place is probably booked four years out.

After the tour was over we walked back into to the main shopping area. While Trish was checking out places to eat, I stepped into the local Catholic Church – it reminded me of St. Joseph’s – the church I went to as a kid.

After lunch, we stopped by this Bakery and got some goodies for breakfast, but no coffee. We also bought some fudge and ended our shopping spree getting some peanut butter – maybe my favorite food – at this specialty shop.

Then we drove back to the lighthouse to get a better look than when we were on the trolly tour. They had these Purple Martin houses there, and when we were visiting there were some volunteers there cleaning out the sparrows nests. We talked to them, and they said they can tell the nests apart by how they look, and they will be cleaning them out at least two days a week. The sparrow will actually kill the young purple martins. There was a small museum there with some displays about the island, and a museum ferret. We had actually looked for some of the Cape May diamonds (actually quartz) and found a few when we were at Sunset Beach.

Later that afternoon we drove up to Wildwoods – we headed to the northern end of the island, and I spotted the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse on the map and thought we should go take a look. Turns out it was originally built in 1894 and it was open when we got there. I went in for a look. The first two floors were the living quarters for the light keeper. That’s Laura Hedges, who was the wife of William Hedges, who was the keeper from 1919 to 1925. When he had a stroke, she was the only woman who was a keeper, as she did the job for 8 months until her husband was admitted to a hospital.

There were some narrow steps to the upper floors which were for the light keeping equipment – this is the original restored lens that was used in the lighthouse. From the top floor, I got a view of the city, and of Trish sitting in the car.

We then drove into the city, but the weather wasn’t very good so we decided to forgo a walk on the boardwalk. There was some interesting art deco architecture in town.

Wednesday, May 14 was our last day in New Jersey. It had poured overnight, and at 3 AM we were both wondering if we would be going on our scheduled bird walk in the morning. But when we got up the rain had stopped and so at 7 AM we were on the way back to the Lighthouse where the walk began. It was sponsored by the Audubon, and there were maybe 18 clients and 4 excellent bird experts. Our first spotting was a Chipping Sparrow.

Many of the birds were flying by, and with the weather what it was, my photos aren’t great, Here you have an Oyster Catcher, a Black Scoter, a Black Backed Gull and a Least Tern.

The Audubon’s Spring Watch was going on at a lookout post over the beach – there were several spotters and they were counting all the birds going by. Someone is there everyday from March through May, from sunrise until noon – very dedicated! The walk was also through the streets of Cape May Point, so I snapped a picture of another one of the chapels. These mallards were just hanging out in the street, until a truck went by – and I caught this cat bird sitting in the grass.

We saw the Green Heron and this Mute Swan on the lake, and a Great Crested Flycatcher. And this is where an Orchard Oriole was sitting. Trish saw it but I only got this picture of an empty branch as it flew off.

Then it was off to catch the Cape May/Lewes Ferry. As we were waiting for the ferry to arrive, I took a short walk and spotted this bird wading along the shore – I was confused until I was able to enlarge it on my screen and realized it was a starling – I’ve only ever seen them on my bird feeders and flying around fields, so this one caught me off guard. We were one of the first vehicles onto the ferry, so once we got up to a higher deck, I was able to get a good view of our roof – spotted one area where I need to clean out some leaves.