Congress Hall

The big yellow neoclassical hotel on Beach Avenue is the grand dame of Cape May. The original Congress Hall opened in 1816 — making it one of the oldest seaside hotels in the United States — and the present building hosted Presidents Pierce, Buchanan, Grant, Harrison, and a string of nineteenth-century society. It was painstakingly restored in 2002.

Even if you are not staying, the wide porch with its row of rocking chairs is the place to sit in the afternoon. The lobby, the Brown Room bar, and the Boiler Room jazz club are all open to non-guests. The hotel's Blue Pig Tavern serves an excellent breakfast.

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A story
Benjamin Harrison made Congress Hall his summer White House in 1890 and 1891 — official correspondence carried a Cape May dateline for two summers. The hotel's first incarnation was destroyed in the great fire of 1878 that levelled most of Cape May; the current building dates to 1879.