Who knew there was a “World Series of Birding”?
Actually, lots of folks. As you may know, Cape May is a
world famous destination for bird watching. I guess it
is only natural that the “World Series” would be held
here every year. Teams form and travel from all over
world to come to Cape May for a weekend of fun and
competition. It is actually an amazingly well organized
event, which you’ll see if you follow the link below.
The great thing about this event is that you don’t
have to be a world class birder to participate. In fact,
they have competition at every level and the main point
is to get involved. Even if you don’t want to
participate, it is fun to go down to the observatory
and, well, observe. Sometimes it is as much fun to watch
birders as it is to watch the birds themselves. In fact,
any experienced novice can tell you that the easiest way
to spot a special bird is to watch the other
birders.
Lots of you come down every year for the spring Jazz
Festival. It’s always lots of fun, and this year’s event
(weekend of April 20th) looks to be another great time.
If you are into Jazz, plan on coming to Cape May in
April. You are sure to enjoy it!
The 27th Cape May Jazz Festival pays “Tribute to Wes
Montgomery” whose ingenuity and extreme dedication plus
his soft, swinging sound set the pace for jazz as an art
form in the 1960s (yeah, I swiped this quote off of
their website).
The annual Cape May Spring Festival is the perfect
way to say goodbye to winter. We take the best events
from our famous Victorian Week (in October), schedule
them in our prettiest blooming season, add a touch of
nice weather and we end up with a fantastic event.
There are literally too many events packed into this
weekend to list them here. If you’ve never been to Cape
May for the Spring Festival, plan on doing it this year.
It is a treat you won’t forget.
Whether you like classical music or classic music of
various styles, you’ll love the Cape May Music Festival.
This year is the 18th annual rendition of this event,
and it promises to be better than ever.
Cape May is a pretty leisurely place, so unlike many
music festivals, which are packed into a single marathon
weekend, we stretch ours out for nearly a month. Every
week we have different artists performing in different
venues, all impressively. Whether you prefer chamber
ensembles, symphonies, jazz, folk music or brass bands,
there is something for you this year at the Cape May
Music Festival.
Anna Marie and I are excited to announce a little
venture that we started the other day … our new retail
shop. We rented a booth at a local antique co-op store
called Teaberry Antiques a couple of weeks ago in order
to sell some of the furniture that we have tranisitioned
out of the inn. We thought it might be fun to also
feature some of our gift shop items too, so we included
many things you might recognize from our own gift shop
at the inn.
Anna Marie and I love antiquing, so it was a natural
step to become dealers of a sort. We’re not planning on
making it a vocation, of course (it sounds fun, but we
really don’t have the time to hunt for antiques to
sell), so as soon as we’ve cleared out our basements
we’ll probably close our little shop. In the meantime,
be sure to visit Teaberry Antiques if you are interested
in purchasing a piece of Queen Victoria history. If you
do visit during your next stay at The Queen Victoria,
don’t purchase any gift shop items from the booth. We’ve
kept our prices lower in our own gift shop at the
inn.
Upcoming Events
Mad Batter “British Beer Tasting Dinner” Apr 13
Cape May Jazz Festival Apr 20 – 22
Cape May Wine School Apr 22 – Western South
American wines
Spring Festival April 27 – May 6
Spring Fest Chocolate Fantasy Buffet Apr 28
Spring Fest Secret Garden Tour Apr 28-29
Spring Fest Home & Garden Show Apr 28-29
Spring Fest Dine-Around Dinner May 3
Spring Fest Murder Mystery Dinners May 4-5
Spring Fest Secret Garden Tour May 5-6
Spring Fest Antiques & Collectibles Show May 5
Cape May Wine School May 6 – Cruise the Islands
Where are they now (Dane & Joan
Wells)?
We are blessed to have MANY guests who have been
coming to The Queen Victoria for longer than Anna Marie
and I have owned the inn. Many of you ask us about the
former innkeepers Dane & Joan Wells when you return
for another visit. I’m pleased to report that Dane &
Joan are doing well, and have just completed yet another
major restoration effort in their new home at
Rittenhouse square in Philadelphia. It is a beautiful
1860’s brownstone that they have lovingly and expertly
restored in a fashion comparable to their restoration of
The Queen Victoria buildings.
Dane & Joan’s new home actually consists of their
residence on the 3rd & 4th floors of this
magnificent building and two town houses which they are
now ready to sell. If you are interested in living in a
beautiful home in one of the nicest parts of
Philadelphia, this is your opportunity! I don’t think
that Dane & Joan would be willing to serve you
breakfast every day like they used to at The Queen
Victoria, but I know they would be happy to have you as
neighbors.
I had an epiphany the other day (which was surprising,
because I wasn’t really sure how to spell the word until 5
minutes ago). As you know, we typically require two or even
three night stays for weekends every week of the year. We get
LOTS of calls from folks looking for exceptions to these
minimums every day. The vast majority of these callers hang up
the phone in disappointment.
Traditionally there have
been two ways of getting a coveted exception to our policy at
The Queen Victoria; both involve luck. One way is to wait
until the very last minute and see if we have any vacancies
(this sometimes works in January, but lately even that is not
a sure thing). The other is to stumble upon a one night
Saturday opening left by reservations that other guests have
made. The odds of this happening are probably similar to
finding a real diamond engagement ring down at sunset beach
while foraging for Cape May diamonds.
It occurred to me
that rather than allow random strangers to stumble upon good
fortune in either case, we could form a list of favored guests
who would like to be notified if such an opening exists. I’ve
had an informal list in my head of a few of you who have asked
to be notified of prime openings if they should become
available. Now I’m going to formalize it. I’m going to create
a list of guests interested in hearing about these openings
and email them on a periodic basis. This will include
notification of two- night weekend openings during three-night
minimum weekends (these aren’t as rare, but are even more
sought after).
If you are interested in joining this
“club”, please send me an email at doug@queenvictoria.com with
the subject “Saturday Night Club” and your real name in the
body. You can include other fun stuff in the body of the text,
including jokes and pictures, but be sure to specify your name
somewhere in there.
Make it better with Flowers &
Chocolates!
So you’ve reserved a room at The Queen Victoria for a
romantic get away with the woman of your dreams (for you
married gentlemen this woman is obviously your wife!).
You’re planning some special walks on the beach,
wonderful dinners, a carriage ride, maybe some wine
tasting, and heaven forbid … even shopping (antiques
are fun!). It sounds great, but if you really want to
impress her, go the extra mile!
If you want to make this next stay at The Queen
Victoria really memorable, add a special touch this
time. When you make your reservation, arrange to have
flowers or chocolates (or both!) in your room. Women
love chocolates and flowers, and you’ll be sure to score
some big points with this move.
Featured “Room of the Month” …
Bloomsbury
If I’m not mistaken, I’ve never featured a room in
Prince Albert Hall before. If you’ve stayed in Prince
Albert, you know it isn’t because I’m not proud of these
rooms. In fact, most of our nicest rooms are in Prince
Albert, including this month’s room of the month …
Bloomsbury.
I’ll admit that Bloomsbury is not the largest room in
Prince Albert Hall, but it more than makes up for that
in charm. EVERY time I walk into Bloomsbury a feeling of
cheer, comfort and relaxation sweeps over me. There is
something about this room that is special, and most of
our guests agree. Bloomsbury is a corner room with lots
of big, bright windows that fill the room with light on
even the darkest day. The antique dresser and bed side
tables are beautiful marble topped Eastlake pieces which
bring you back to another era. The canopy bed adds a
touch of romance to every stay. Of course, the whirlpool
tub is the topping on the cake; an excellent place to
luxuriate after a day of relaxation in Cape
May.
As you may know, we introduced several new specials
this year, which have been received with overwhelming
enthusiasm. I’m not surprised, because they really are
pretty good deals. The idea was to encourage you to come
visit us down in Cape May mid-week and we would make it
worth your while. The specials were so good, in fact,
that I’ve actually had other innkeepers yell at me for
offering such good specials! I’m not kidding.
If you haven’t taken advantage of these deals yet,
you have just one more month to do so. We’ve got four
fun, interesting and money saving ways to enjoy The
Queen Victoria this April:
“Two for Two”
“Gourmet Getaway”
“Tour the Town”
“Weekend MADness”
Make a bold
move today! Take one of those vacation days you’ve been
meaning to use and come on down to The Queen Victoria.
You might just discover you like it here better in the
Spring than the Summer.
You may not have noticed, but The Queen Victoria
building is pretty old. In fact, it celebrated its 125th
birthday at some point last year, and I managed to let
the event go by unannounced. To make up for that lapse I
thought it might be interesting to share a little of the
building’s history with you.
The Queen Victoria building started out as the
private home of Douglas Gregory, who had the house built
in 1880. Construction was completed in 1881 and the
family moved in shortly thereafter. It is built on a lot
that became available for sale after the Columbia Hotel
that was previously located on the site burned down in
1878. Mr. Gregory paid $3500 for the land and $4000 for
the construction of the building (which was quite a bit
smaller than it is today). Douglas Gregory sold the home
to Elizabeth Baker in 1889. The house changed hands
several times until it was purchased by Dr. Franklin
Hughes in 1913 at a sheriff’s sale for $6,750. It was
leased to the Navy as a war camp community service
facility for several years before the Hughes family
moved into it. Dr. Hughes’ middle son David was born in
the house in 1918. The Hughes family lived in the house
until 1929 when they moved across the street to what is
now the Humphrey Hughes house. The Queen Victoria
building then started its life as a rooming house. In
1980 the building was purchased by Dane & Joan
Wells, who restored it to its original elegance and
founded The Queen Victoria. Anna Marie and I bought the
building in 2004 as part of our purchase of the entire
complex, and we’ve been living here happilly ever
after!
Favorite Guest Photos
One of our favorite guests Betsi (I’ll withhold her
last name so that she doesn’t blush too much when she
reads this) submitted this photo the other day. She’ll
be returning in a few days for one of her frequent
visits, so I thought it would be a good choice for this
edition. I love any photo of our guests on Cape May’s
beautiful beach, but this is especially good because it
reminds me that The Queen Victoria is a great place to
visit with friends.
If you think about your friends, the moments you
remember are usually those spent doing something
different or especially fun with them. What could be
more fun or different than coming down to Cape May for
the weekend and staying at The Queen VIctoria together.
I can assure you from experience that when you double
the people, you double the fun. If you’ve got some good
friends that you like to spend time with, think about
bringing them to The Queen Victoria sometime soon.
You’ll be sure to create some special
memories.
Since my initial call for photos, the
well has dried up a bit. If you have some photos that
you don’t mind the rest of the world seeing, send them
in. Just think, this could be your big chance at your
own 15 minutes of fame!
Doug & Anna Marie’s Restaurant
Pick Of The Month … Mad Batter
I can’t believe I’ve never featured the Mad Batter in
any of my newletters before. I must admit that I
normally favor the BYO restaurants (we all have our
weaknesses and mine is a great, and inexpensive, bottle
of wine with dinner), but neglecting to mention the Mad
Batter is definitely a failure on my part.
The
Mad Batter is one of the restaurants that helped make
Cape May the restaurant mecca that it is. Its fun
attitude and atmosphere, along with great food has made
it a perennial favorite of many. It is probably most
famous for its breakfasts, which I’ve never tried, as
you can imagine. I’ve had several great dinners there,
however, and I’m sure you will too if you make it one of
your choices the next time you come to town.
It has been a few weeks since Anna Marie and I dined
at the Mad Batter, and just writing this feature has
inspired me to go there tonight. The last time we dined
there Anna Marie had the grilled ribeye steak, which was
excellent (yes, I’ll admit I sampled it liberally). I
asked our server, who was wonderful, what her favorite
dish was and she convinced me to try the crab cakes.
Young as she was, she is obviously a good judge of
menus, because they were wonderful (to be honest I like
Fredas’ crab cakes better, but these WERE good). I was
also pleased to find a reasonably priced, tasty red wine
on the list to enjoy with dinner. All in all, our last
trip to Mad Batter was a wonderful experience. I wonder
what I’ll have when we go there
tonight!
