by Jean Totten Timmons Copyright IMI As a penisula, Cape May County has gentle land’s-end beauty all its own. Most other geographically similar areas consist of rocky beaches and irregular coastlines, but Cape May’s sloping sandy beaches, along both bay and ocean, provide the peninsula with a unique environment. Here, too, are pleasant woodlands and, despite the sand content, a soil that is versatile and fertile. The latter is important, and undoubtedly why so many early whalers remained in the 1740s. Usually when people turn to working thO land, stable communities emerge and industries develop to fill local needs. The Jersey Cape was no exception. THE KECHEMECHE INDIANS, a branch of the LenijiLenape tribe of the great Algonquin nation, were the first to apf ireciate the bounties of this gentle and and shore. They were a peaceful people who summered on the shores hunting, fishing and clamming — the original "summer visitors.” During the developing years they remained friendly and helpful to the settlers. The Indians surely must have gazed with wonder at the sight of Hehry Hudson Hal/ Moon anchored in Delaware Bay. Although Hudson was English, he was sailing for Jhel Dutch in 1609 when he came upon the great bay area off the coast of present-day Cape May. Because of severe shoaling, he did not explore exti sively, and soon turned his sh] northward up the coast. He di however report on “the charming climate and gracious lands,”. BY 1633 THE DUTCH had become well established along the bay coast. , Cpt. Cornelius Jacobsen'Mey, upon his return to Holland after a visit in 1620, so extolled the virtues of the area that •his name was accepted for the new lands. Hollander Pieterzen DeVries arrived in Decembrf 1632 to inaugurate the whaling industry, but by the spring of 1634 this enterprize was largely aban : doned by the Dutch in favor of fur trading. These Dutch lands were subsequently divided and sold, with ( much of it going to the English whalers from the north. It was these English colonists from New England and Long Island who brought successful whaling methods to the area. They began arriving in 1638, and during the next few years purchased many tracts from the Indians as well as from the Dutch. AMONG»THESE NEWLY arrived families were several who descended from Pilgrim John Howland — thus establishing a Mayflower line that today makes many Cape May County families eligible for membership in the Society of Mayflower Descen- • donts in America. Later in the 1660s more-English migrated north from Virginia. By

on the cover-

Significant dates in the county's history oh a map of the Jersey Cape by Bonnie Relna, illustrating ‘An Introduction to Historic Cape May County with selected bibliography,’ from which this article is taken.

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1654 the Swedes, disenchanted under the domination of Dutch Governor Peter StuyveSant, began arriving from nearby Delaware. However, it was neither the Dutch nor the Swedes who acquired final control of the peninsula. It was the English. PERHAPS BY sheer numbers, but more likely because of Great Britain’s power and political sophistication, the English laid claims to a vast territory which included the Cape. They used the discovery voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot in 1498 as se-BasiS for their claims. In June 1664 the Duke of York, who had acquired a patent from King James, sold the vast tract called New Jersey to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. The lands were divided and on July 1, 1676 Carteret took the northern section as East Jersey, with William Penn and his Quakers acquiring the southern portion as West

Jersey.

From then on towns and in-

dustries developed throughout the

entire colony. While the Cape May peninsula was slow to emerge as a

thriving area, compared to the so vociferous thaUaJl < northern settlements, it was the. compromise was lost, Dr. Coxe

ordered his holdings broken up. Locally, Home R\Ule was established. \ ‘ COXE SOLD MORE thhnfo.oOO acres to a group of 4rt persons known as the West Jerset Society. By 1692 the Society had selected a governor, Assembly represcntives and created four counties — Salem, Burlington, Gloucester

and Cape Mav. *

The new county'of Cape May was 267 square miles, bounded by Delaware Bay, the Atlantic Ocean and a portion of the Maurice

THE JERSEY CAPE has been a favorite place to go in the summersince the time of the Indians, and their presence here is marked by the relics that were Collected by the White Man long after the Red man left

the area. This display is at the County Museum.

Coxe, a principal owner of West Jersey, which precipitated the establishment of Cape May Coun.ty. Without ever having set foot in the New World, he nevertheless undertook to organize a government for the area, pushing the English Constitution in place of the existing “Quaker Concessions." When objections became so vociferous thal-ajl chance of

first to develop in the southern

portion of the new colony.

The southern coastal folk had some rather unique problems — transportation difficulties for one, but probably the worst aggravation was the private activity which plagued them from the late

1600s until the mid 1700s.

THE MOUTH OF Delaware Bay was a fine shelter and a good rendezvous spot for these sea going bandits. The infamous Kidd a’hd Teach (Blackbeard) were frequent visitors to these waters. They routinely came ashore for fresh water and supplies as well as some trading with the more adventurous settlers. And it seems reasonable to assume they also buried some of their loot on these,shores. Alas, to date there have been no significant

discoveries.

It was the less adventurous actions of a London doctor, Daniel

River to the north. The northern boundary was later shifte’dV southward to Tuckahoe River. The first official census, in 1726,

recorded 668 inhabitants.

The only byways were the Indian paths and the often Jfeacherous water routes. The whaler’s bayside settlement of Town Bank was the first real village in the county (1691). Fishing Cree'k, Cold Spririg,

Swaintown and Cape Island (which became Cape May City in 1869) were other early towns Finally in 1706 a toll road was laid out from Egg Harbor to Town Bank and.thence to Cold Spring. A primitive ferry service had been established across Great Egg Harbor, 14 years earlier. Some years later ( 18031 Thomas. Beesley would set up a busy ships' chandler shop adjacent to the ferry landing. Steamboats began opcating but of Philadelphia for the Cape May City summer visitors in the early 1800. (The railroad operations came much later: to ■ Cape Island in 1863, beginning ill the Millville area around 1879 and a seashore line from Philadelphia in 1894.) BY 1723, the county divided into three Precincts — Upper, Middle and Lower — known today as Townships. The three areas developed along much the. same lines, with whaling and farming the earliest industries. The Upper communities, especially, soon became quite industrialized by early standards. The village of Tuckghoe led. the way with lumber products, exports and extensive shipbuilding. In the vicinity were two iron furnaces and a glass works. People on the Cape began to move about; churches and one(PaRef Please i

PAlLfACIB STEAMER. KifitPUlSMKE

LONG BEFORE THE AUTO, thousands flocked to Cape Island each summer aboard steamers from Philadelphia and other major East Coast Cities. This picture is from a post card by Annabelle Naples, from a mural in the lobby of the Beach Theatre, Cape May. CAPC MAY COUNtr MAGAIINt J