Carriage House at Emlen Physick Estate
Heading downashore in off hours usually guarantees that at rest stops, one will avoid that quintessentially New Jersey phenomena in the most densely crowded state, the buddy park. This is when the driver feels compelled to pull right up next to your car in an empty parking lot the size of an arena – and then bang his or her car door open directly into yours in such a familiar way that the lively, “Hey, buddy!” wave and grin as he blithely exits his car and dashes away leaves one wondering whether this is subconscious bonding or just plain obnoxiousness. Awhile back, West Orange’s Kyrie Irving either posted on Instagram or liked a hilarious photo of two cars on the NJ Turnpike trying to go through a toll booth at once. For the most part, getting along well in a relatively small space gives New Jerseyans an enviable flexibility of character.
Dazzling gazebo tree
Winter light view on the way, Cape May Light, Cape May Point State Park – with a spacious parking lot đ
Cape May MAC welcome at Emlen Physick Estate
Counterpoint to the familiar assertiveness is the quiet kindness that you will find among those in the Garden State. The kindness may be a warm welcome such as the one visitors received on the Christmas Candle Light Tour in Cape May this December. The atmosphere in Cape May during the tour is like one big open house. The town-proud Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts sponsors a number of holiday tours as well as lamplighter tours with its anchor in the stately Emlen Physick Estate and Carriage House, adorned beautifully for the holidays and warmed by guides and carolers. The historic sites, inns, homes, and churches are so many that you will want to return to enjoy them all as did our grandparents over a lifetime from their honeymoon destination to summertime pleasure whenever they could make the then day-long journey from Newark. Our grandfather, born on Christmas Eve, would have claimed that the decorations were for him, a favorite joke come birthday time.
Historic inns of Cape May on the tour included The Harrison Inn (tall, middle) with a thank you for the long-time Instagram follow.
Our Lady Star of the Sea
Joy in the details, Congress Hall
A present-day parallel delight is the Winter Wonderland at historic Congress Hall, breathtaking in its charm. An endearing aspect of the hotel that distinguishes it from some fellow iconic ones is that visitors are also warmly welcomed. The lobby, shops, café, spa, and restaurants are available for everyone to enjoy year-round, underscored at the holidays with the carousel, holiday train, and Winter Wonderland village of vendors. The candy cane-lined hallway, elegantly simple, was a joyful welcome for every visitor and a cell phone photo-snapping sensation.
Rejoining the tour and wrapping up the evening on a recent visit, Cape May MAC trolleys and buses were available to complement the walk. One guide was so modest in her kindness that it was not clear at first. She had asked the driver to stop to see if any tour members were left behind at one of the homes, her errand requiring a walk of some distance in the cold. Her thoughtfulness was a good reminder to relinquish my New York Metro area dweller’s focus on “the schedule”. Returning to my car later, the only rival to the beauty of evening was above me. In that clear cold of winter was the panorama of the Shore night sky with stars like diamonds cast across black velvet. At this time of year, it is the star of hope and humility that shines the brightest. May it light all paths joyfully as we celebrate the Lord’s birth.
Thank you to all for a wonderful visit. For more information, please see Cape May MAC, Congress Hall, Our Lady Star of the Sea. Additional source: excerpt from The Moral Quandary of Heels © 2013 Kathleen Helen Levey.
Kindly check for more photos later as we dash away, dash away all to ready for Christmas! đ
“Cape May at Christmas” All Rights Reserved © 2017 Kathleen Helen Levey
A Cape May fairy tale
Winter Wonderland market at Congress Hall
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