Cape May: Selling History By the Sea

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Abstract
Aging seaside resorts can lead several lives. Where once, sand and surf were the major attractions, now the resort's tourist appeal can lie more in cultural, historical amenities. Cape May, New Jersey is one of America's oldest seaside resorts. Its early preeminence was based on the combination of natural recreational resources and relative location. When travelers arrived by steamboat, Cape May was the most accessible ocean beach. The railroad era resulted in a significant change in Cape May's relative accessibility: Atlantic City was then Philadelphia's closest ocean beach. Decades of benign neglect produced enough demand to encourage maintaining elegant hotels, but not enough to prompt widespread modernization. Designation of a large National Historic District has preserved many Victorian hotels and cottages. Cape May presents an excellent opportunity to study tourists' changing cognitive relationship to leisure landscapes.

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