County Past
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Cape May County, New Jersey

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
57historic places
—earliest paper
1692formed
95,263pop. 2020
8cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 57 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1970; 1 is also National Historic Landmark. Most listings are in or near Lower Township, Ocean City, Cape May.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for New Jersey is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Cape May titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

33 of 57 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

57 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Avalon Life Saving StationAvalonBuilding1979
Baker, J. Thompson, HouseWildwood CityBuilding1996
Battery 223Lower TownshipBuilding2008
Beesley, Thomas, Jr., HouseMiddle TownshipBuilding1998
Beesley, Thomas, Sr., HouseBeesley's PointBuilding1992
Beth-Juda Hebrew Temple of Worship and Morris and Rebecca Green AnnexWildwood CityBuilding2025
Brandywine Shoal Light StationCape May PointStructure2007
Calvary Baptist ChurchOcean ViewBuilding1980
Cape May Historic District (Additional Documentation) NHLCape MayDistrict1970
Cape May LighthouseCape MayStructure1973
Caribbean MotelBorough of Wildwood CrestBuilding2005
Chateau Bleu MotelCity of North WildwoodBuilding2004
Coachman, Owen, HouseLower TownshipBuilding2005
Cold Spring Grange HallLower TownshipBuilding1998
Cold Spring Presbyterian ChurchLower TownshipBuilding1991
Colonial Knitting MillsMiddle TownshipBuilding2025
Corson, John, Jr., House SiteUpper TownshipBuilding2015
Cresse-Holmes House Historic District (Additional Documentation)Cape May Court HouseBuilding1979
Cresse-Holmes House Historic District (Boundary Increase)Cape May Court HouseBuilding2025
Dennisville Historic DistrictDennisvilleDistrict1987
Dennisville Historic District (Boundary Increase)Dennis TownshipDistrict2016
Falkinburg, Joseph, HouseSouth DennisBuilding1994
Fire Control Tower No. 23Lower TownshipBuilding2003
Fishing Creek SchoolhouseVillasBuilding1980
Flanders, Hotel, TheOcean CityBuilding2009
Foster, Judge Nathaniel, HouseLower TownshipBuilding2014
Gandy, John Wesley, HouseGreenfieldBuilding1999
Goshen SchoolGoshenBuilding2014
Hangar No. 1-United States Naval Air Station WildwoodLower TownshipBuilding1997
Hereford LighthouseNorth WildwoodStructure1977
Hildreth, George, HouseLower TownshipBuilding1999
Leaming, Thomas, HouseMiddle TownshipBuilding1997
Ludlam, Henry, HouseDennisvilleBuilding1993
Ludlam, Thomas Jr., HouseDennis TownshipBuilding2004
Marine National BankWildwoodBuilding2000
Marshallville Historic DistrictMarshallvilleDistrict1989
Naval Air Station Wildwood Historic DistrictWildwoodDistrict2015
New Asbury Methodist Episcopal MeetinghouseCape May Court HouseBuilding1980
Ocean City 34th Street StationOcean CityBuilding1984
Ocean City City HallOcean CityBuilding1997
Ocean City Residential Historic DistrictOcean CityDistrict2003
Ocean City Tenth Street StationOcean CityBuilding1984
Ocean City, NJ Life-Saving StationOcean CityBuilding2013
Octagonal Poultry HouseCold SpringBuilding2008
Old Cape May County Courthouse BuildingCape MayBuilding1981
Pyne, Jonathan, HouseCape MayBuilding1997
Reeves-Iszard-Godfey HouseUpper TownshipBuilding2005
Rio Grande StationLower TownshipBuilding2007
Rufwud CottageStone Harbor BoroughBuilding2014
Saint Peter's-By-The-Sea Episcopal ChurchCape May PointBuilding1995
South Tuckahoe Historic DistrictTuckahoeDistrict1997
TBM-3E "Avenger" Torpedo Bomber WarplaneLower TownshipStructure2003
Townsend, William S., HouseDennisvilleBuilding1984
Tuckahoe StationTuckahoeBuilding1984
U.S. Life-Saving Station No. 35Stone Harbor BoroughBuilding2008
Whilldin-Miller HouseBorough of West Cape MayBuilding2003
Woodbine Brotherhood SynagogueWoodbineBuilding1980

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Cape May was formed in 1692 (1692-11-12) from unknown / original county.

Within the Indefinite Counties Area, West New Jersey converted the court of Cape May Court to CAPE MAY County; boundary description of CAPE MAY was complete and mappable.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Cape May County population from 1790 to 2020 (Census historical series).

102k52k2,571179018001840188019101920196020002020
17901800182018401860188019001920194019501960198020002020
2,5713,0664,2655,3247,1309,76513,20119,46028,91937,13148,55582,266102,32695,263

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

8 cemeteries and 0 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 8 of 8 listed
NameLatLon
Cape May County Veteran's Cemetery39.09755-74.80056
Fairview Memorial Cemetery39.09085-74.81436
Goshen Methodist Cemetery39.1378-74.85461
John Wesley Cemetery39.12529-74.80154
Seaside Cemetery39.2504-74.66192
Tiffereth Israel Cemetery39.22052-74.77881
United Brotherhood Cemetery39.24188-74.82945
Woodland Cemetery39.18536-74.74092

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Cape May County, New Jersey

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.