- Congress Hall (Cape May hotel)
-
Congress Hall 
Location 251 Beach Ave., Cape May, New Jersey, USA Opening date 1816 (rebuilt 1879) Website www.congresshall.com Congress Hall is a historic hotel in Cape May, New Jersey occupying a city block bordered on the south by Beach Avenue and on the east by Washington Street Mall.
Congress Hall was constructed in 1816 as a boarding house for guests at 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."[1] In 1828, when Hughes was elected to the House of Representatives, he changed the name of his hotel to Congress Hall. Congress Hall burned to the ground in Cape May's Great Fire of 1878, but within a year, its owners had rebuilt the hotel in brick.
Congress Hall in 1870.
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 Phillip Sousa regularly visited Congress Hall with the U.S. Marine Band and composed the "Congress Hall March," which he conducted on the 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 Congress Hall when 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. Restoration was begun in 1995, and today, Congress Hall is again a fully functioning resort hotel.
See also
References
- ^ Congress Hall, Cape May, NJ. "History." Accessed 2011-06-29.
- "Cape May Summer". Washington Times. 2007-06-01. http://www.washingtontimes.com/travel/20070601-082807-6044r.htm.
Categories:- Hotels on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey
- Resorts in the United States
- Cape May, New Jersey
- Buildings and structures in Cape May County, New Jersey
- Buildings and structures completed in 1879
- Hotels established in 1816
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
