Cape May Audio Walking Tour

Highlights

• 
  Congress Hall

  Congress Hall fills this whole city block, with Beach Avenue to the south and the Washington Street Mall to the east. A contributing building in the Cape May National Historic District, it began in 1816 as a wooden boarding house for guests to the new seaside resort of Cape May.

• 
  Emlen Physick Estate

  Your walk brings you to 1048 Washington Street, home to the 18-room Emlen Physick Estate that architect Frank Furness raised in 1879. Picture the 18-room mansion as it first rose in 1879, designed by American architect Frank Furness for Dr. Emlen Physick Jr., his widowed mother Mrs. Ralston, and maiden Aunt Emilie.

• 
  Harriet Tubman Museum

  Inside this renovated parsonage at 632 Lafayette Street, you will find the Harriet Tubman Museum, opened on Juneteenth 2020 to honor her life and work. Inside this renovated parsonage — once the Macedonia Baptist Church Parsonage and a contributing property of the Cape May Historic District — the museum presents the life and work of American abolitionist and social activist Harriet Tubman and specifically refers to Tubman's time living in Cape May.

• 
  The Chalfonte Hotel

  Henry Sawyer's Chalfonte Hotel rises in front of you. The National Park Service calls it the "Oldest and most ornate large hotel in Cape May," and it still holds the distinction of being the oldest facility in the city to continually operate as a lodging facility.

• 
  Washington Street

  Washington Street Mall stretches ahead of you, three pedestrian blocks in downtown Cape May. It makes up the southernmost three blocks of Washington Street, a major east-west street that runs from Lafayette Street (New Jersey Route 109) to Perry Street; the mall portion runs from Ocean Street to Perry Street.

All 9 stops

• Emlen Physick Estate (Cape May)

  Your walk brings you to 1048 Washington Street, home to the 18-room Emlen Physick Estate that architect Frank Furness raised in 1879.

• Episcopal Church of the Advent (Cape May)

  At Franklin and Washington streets, the Episcopal Church of the Advent shows you its Carpenter Gothic board-and-batten siding and lancet windows.

• Harriet Tubman Museum (Cape May Historic District)

  Inside this renovated parsonage at 632 Lafayette Street, you will find the Harriet Tubman Museum, opened on Juneteenth 2020 to honor her life and work.

• Cape May Stage (downtown Cape May)

  Cape May Stage makes its home here at Bank and Lafayette Streets, inside the Robert Shackleton Playhouse in downtown Cape May, New Jersey.

• John B. McCreary House (Cape May Historic District)

  Picture State Senator John B. McCreary's Victorian home rising at Gurney and Columbia Streets, built in 1870 by architect Stephen Decatur Button.

• Carroll Villa (Cape May Historic District)

  Built in 1882, the Carroll Villa greets you with a stout cupola, long windows and a blue-and-white front, a contributing property in the Cape May…

• The Chalfonte Hotel (Cape May Historic District)

  Henry Sawyer's Chalfonte Hotel rises in front of you.

• Congress Hall (Cape May National Historic District)

  Congress Hall fills this whole city block, with Beach Avenue to the south and the Washington Street Mall to the east.

• Washington Street (downtown Cape May)

  Washington Street Mall stretches ahead of you, three pedestrian blocks in downtown Cape May.

How it works