The Charming Town of Cape May

I love it when readers email pictures of projects they’ve made, before and afters and wonderful home tours!  Michele visits the wonderful town of Cape May, NJ each summer and she recently shared a few pics with me from a recent trip.   Oh, how I’d love to see this town in person and go inside these cute shops!  My bucket list gets longer and longer.

Charming Homes in Cape May

Beautiful gardens and charming cottages!

Charming Houses in Cape May

Have you ever been to Cape May?   The homes Michele shared remind me so much of those you see in small towns here in the south or around the squares of the larger cities in the south.  Wouldn’t it be fun to host a party in this house and throw open those wonderful doors just off the front porch of this beautiful Victorian.  Love the flags tucked in among the  flowers.  Are those hydrangeas?   I didn’t know they would grow so far north, but I think those are hydrangeas.  Beautiful!

Cottage in Cape May

Haven Conference:
This upcoming week I’ll share some pics from the Haven Conference.  I am still recovering!  It was an amazing two days and sooo much fun.   I think even those of us who have been blogging for a while came away with some great information to help improve our blogs.  I have pages and pages of notes…will take me a while to sort through them all.

Thumbnails and Could Use Your Help:
You may remember, right after BNOTP moved from Blogger to WordPress 2-3 weeks ago, the thumbnail pics for many posts went missing.  When you hit the words “More posts from BNOTP” at the bottom of the BNOTP home page, you found excerpts of past posts, but they were without their thumbnails.  Not very appealing or helpful if you’re cruising the archives.

I spent a few hours each day (over the last few weeks) replacing all those.  I was almost finished (had about 6 months of posts to check) when WordPress issued an update that turned out to be NOT compatible with the thumbnail plug-in.   About half my thumbnails (maybe more) vanished again.   Two steps forward, 5 steps back.  I tell ya folks, WordPress is not for the faint of heart.

A thread was started by those who use the plugin and eventually the “techy” guys in the thread found a solution.  After applying the “fix” I was left with around 175 posts still lacking their thumbnails.  I’ve been working on those over this past week and I think I have them all replaced.  Please do me a favor, though.  If you are clicking back through the pages/posts and come across a post still missing its thumbnail picture (or missing a picture in the post itself) I would appreciate it so much if you would let me know.   Hopefully the next WP update won’t wipe them all off again.  I live in fear of WP updates now!  Seriously!

Mouseover Tutorial:
If you were having some trouble getting the Mouseover Tutorial I posted recently to work, I’ve added some additional visuals and changed the “example code” to one that may be a bit easier to use.  You can check that out here:  Create a Mouse-over Photo of Your Before and After Project

See you tomorrow morning for Metamorphosis Monday!  Have a wonderful weekend!

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Comments

  1. Cape May is adorable, I went once 25 years ago and would love to go back!

    Yes, hydrangeas definitely grow this far north – I’m further north (about 4 hours) in Jersey and I have them flourishing in my yard! If you go over to my blog you’ll see pics of this years hydrangeas, they’re my favorites!!!!

    gena

    • Gena, thanks for clarifying that! I love hydrangeas but unfortunately I don’t have any in my yard. Wish I did!

      • Michele Brooks says

        Yes they are everywhere in abundance in Cape May, Susan! I did take a few pics of them as well. They love it by the sea! 🙂 Thanks for sharing my photos!

  2. We are on the shores of Lake Ontario and have beautiful hydrangeas in red and blue!!! They are a fav in the north…….

  3. Michele from Finch Rest says

    Cape May definately sounds like a Bucket List visit for sure – how charming! I loved her pics, thanks so much for sharing Michele’s visit – and I love how she spells her name in the proper French fasion!

    ~Michele

    • Michele Brooks says

      Thank you Michele! Yes, our spelling is what I say “the French way, the “right” way!” 🙂 I also have a french middle name although I am not French!

  4. Twirling Barefoot says

    Hi Susan, the pictures of Cape May are beautiful, I’m hoping to go next week. I have only been once before but now I only live an hour away so I’m excited to be able to go any time I’d like. Thank you for another beautiful post!
    Hugz,
    Kim

  5. Beautiful! Thanks for sharing. I’m in love with that cute Victorian cottage.
    Shasta @InTheOldRoad

  6. Merci pour cette belle petite visite… Ce fut très agréable.

    Gros bisous à vous.

  7. Hi Susan!
    Cape May is a beautiful town. Years ago when my kids were much younger, we took them to the beach for a week a bit further south of Cape May, and for a solid week entertained them with swimming, water slides, mini golf, amusement parks, etc. On the way home we took the ferry to Cape May so I could spend just two hours of the vacation looking at the pretty houses and shops, and my kids whined and cried the whole time that it was BORING. I was SO mad, but looking back I can laugh, they were young, tired, and to them it WAS boring. I keep wanting to go back, one of these days I will, and I will spend more than 2 hours there! With no kids!

  8. Donna W. says

    I’ve been going to Cape May all my life and love it. It’s interesting that the architecture reminds you of southern towns because in Victorian times Cape May was a popular resort with Southerners. Steamships would bring them up to enjoy the ocean breezes in “Cool Cape May”. Many of the buildings were designed by an architect from the south to appeal to them. All that gingerbread eventually fell out of fashion and it became a sleepy little resort. Luckily in the 1970’s someone had the foresight to preserve the Victorian architecture. Today Cape May is truly a gem and visiting it is like taking a trip back in time until you see a girl going to the beach in a bikini and you’re reminded that times have certainly changed. I like to go there in September when it’s not as crowded, the weather is fabulous and the water is still warm.

    • Laurie Carlton says

      Hi Donna….thank you for the wonderful information. And most importantly, thank you for the info about going in September. It gave me the idea to not only create a bucket list, as many do these days, but to also include certain Months on the list of when it would be the best time of year to do an activity! I love learning the great information from other people replies. Thank you for sharing!

  9. Mary from Virginia says

    Cape May looks like the perfect place to visit. I’m adding it to my list, so thank you Michele and Susan for the tour.
    Hope your blog move settles down for you.
    Looking forward to your Haven posts.

  10. Cape May has been on my list of places to visit for many years. It is such a charming looking town.

  11. Cape May is my favorite seaside getaway! Check out their tulips: http://remembertheresalwayshope.blogspot.com/2010/05/tulips-in-cape-may.html

  12. I love Cape May and have been there many many times thanks to a good friend who lived nearby. It should be on everyone’s bucket list who loves small little towns. And I can attest to the hardiness of hydrangeas, I’m in Michigan and mine are in beautiful bloom right now.

  13. Cape May is going on my bucket list. How beautiful.

    To the lady that her kids complained about the boring site-seeing. Years ago when my bff came to visit for a few days, she brought her young teenage daughter. I had snagged some tickets to see Phantom of the Opera. She complained the whole time about how stupid it all was. But today she tells people it was the best gift she had ever been given. My daughter called it child abuse for having to take piano lessons, but thanks me now. There is hope.

  14. My grandparents had a home in Cape May and I remember
    spending many summers there… such a lovely little town.
    Sad thing, I was there just a few years ago and it’s so different.
    They moved some of the homes and my moms HSchool is now
    the court house….Their old Victorian Home is now a B&B and
    they cut it in half… “Angle of the Sea” is the sign in front of it!
    Nice photos
    Sandy

  15. Laurie Carlton says

    Hi Susan… thank you for sharing the information about this lovely place that I had never before heard about. I’ve not traveled much at all in my life, and have never been anywhere East of Texas, except one short trip to Arkansas maybe 20 years ago..??. And that does not qualify as traveling East! I’ve dreamed for years of visiting that part of this wonderful country – most especially in the Fall. And I will most definitely have this on my list of places to go during that season. I have several on-line friends from that part of the country as well… makes me want to move there to be closer to them and all the beauty in that direction.

    So sorry to hear of your extra work created for you to do on your blog by the thumbnails disappearing. You might ought to consider writing a book about blogging do’s and don’ts! I do hope all stays settled down for a while with no more glitches of any kind. I’m hoping to do some 4th of July decorating soon because of you!…lol. Thank you for all the inspirations you share!

  16. Paula B. says

    Cape May is lovely and want to revisit someday soon. As for hydrangeas, I was visiting another cape the past few days, Cape Cod (Mass.) where they are a signature flower in every garden. They bloom all summer here in New England with the varying shades of blue being the most common.

  17. I grew up in NJ. We took our children’s there for MANY summer vacations. Now my daughter takes her children there too. I still love the town. There have been some changes that have been a little disappointing. I hope they don’t continue to keep making it so fancy that it’ll change the quaint little seaside town it was. I remember when there were still sand roads. I hope Wall St. investors don’t destroy it’s simple charm. It is truly a lovely town.

  18. Cape May looks so charming! I’d love to go there! Those pink hydrangeas are fabulous! I have hydrangeas and I’m pretty far norh!
    Word press sounds way too hard to jump over to- I hope you can get it all back the way you want it!
    You’ve spent a lot of hours on it for sure!

  19. Cape May is definitely on my list of places to visit…I have seen so many wonderful articles on this town…especially at Christmas time…..Susan, it was so wonderful to have met you and spend time with you at Haven…definitely a highlight!….Have a wonderful week!

  20. I love Cape May. It’s so charming 🙂

  21. Looks like a great place to visit, love all those charming little cottages.
    I couldn’t believe when I clicked over to the giveaway that I had won- woo-hoo! Thank you so much!!! What do I need to do to claim this awesome prize?! 🙂

    • Hi Sheila! Congrats on winning! I think I have your email. I’ll forward it to Adriane with French Bleu Vintage and you should be hearing from her before too long.

  22. Susan~

    We LOVE Cape May….go each year! 🙂 It was great meeting you at Haven….wish we had more time. Maybe next time…….

    Blessings~
    Daune

  23. Cape May is my favorite place to go! we used to live about an hour and a half away and went there every summer. Beautiful Victorian homes and the atmosphere is just so old fashioned. Wish I could live there all the time .

  24. I was going to let you know that hydrangeas definitely grow up north (in NY), but as usual I’m late to the party. 😉
    I’ve been to Cape May a couple of times and it is indeed a lovely place! Wouldn’t mind heading back there some day.
    I hear ya’ about WP. From a gal who gets all giddy when I figure out how to open an email, I can’t believe I picked WP as a beginner blogger. What was I thinking??!! lol Oh well…keeps the brain cells hopping.
    Can’t wait to hear all about Haven! I was going to go, but you know how it is…’late to the party Doreen’ and it was sold out.

  25. Susan VH says

    I also have loved visiting Cape May when I was a Jersey Girl. Another not to be missed town along the Jersey shore is the little town of Ocean Grove. I used to go there as a child and more recently to visit with a friend as I have lived in Florida for the past 20 years. Ocean Grove is a Methodist Camp town from the late 1800’s. I believe the town is said to have the largest number of authentic Victoian homes. The Auditorium is for services and concerts. I have been to a couple of the ABBA concerts and the house tours. There is also an area of tents that were used from the old camp times. They are still in use and many have been used by generations of families. You have to see it to believe it. Susan VH

  26. My hydrangeas are blooming in Wisconsin. I only wish that they weren’t the favorite midnight snack for the neighborhood herd of deer. This is the 3rd year for my Oakleaf Hydrangas and they are really showing off!

  27. My family and I have a house rented in Cape May the week of August 18th. Have only been twice on day trips so looking forward to a whole week. FYI for everyone that on the bay side there is a dog friendly beach so lots of the rental houses will allow you to bring a dog. Looking forward to getting some pictures of our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel when he experiences the sand and ocean for the first time.

    Also plan to spend a lot of time just walking around town and enjoying the shops and homes.

  28. Cape May is so lovely…I grew up in the Philadelphia area and we use to drive down to the shore singing the song…On The Way to Cape May! Thank you for sharing such beautiful pictures…have a great weekend!!!

  29. Hi Susan, We just returned from our first visit to the East Coast where we met up with friends and traveled together for eleven days. Such fun! Our friend is originally from New Jersey and she included Cape May as one of the destinations for us. I would not likely have known anything about this wonderful place if she hadn’t guided us there. I was so surprised when I saw you featuring Cape May on your blog. Thank you for allowing me to revisit!

  30. I also wanted to say that hydrangeas grow in the northern climates, I am in Southwest Ont., (Canada) and have them in my yard – love them. This little town reminds me of a village on the Ontario coast of Lake Huron, called Bayfield. Quaint stores, gardens and a gorgeous old hotel called ‘The Little Inn’ – which, by the way, is where my husband and I spent our wedding night. Plus the beautiful beaches of Lake Huron. If you ever get up this way, add it to your ‘places to visit’ list.

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