Information & history on read of plaque:

LBS01 Abbey II, Cape May, NJ.  Built in 1869-70, was designed by S.D.Button as the summer home of John B.McCreary, a Pennsylvania coal baron and state senator.  Built in Gothic Revival style, "The Abbey" features a 60 foot tower with an exaggerated mansard roof.  In 1970, the house served for a time as a Christian Science Church, but more recently it has become a bed & breakfast furnished with Victorian antiques and artifacts.

LBS02 Centennial Cottage, Ocean Grove, NJ  In 1869 Ocean Grove was founded as a vacation resort by the Camp Meeting Association.  This seaside Chalet is a light, airy cottage over flowing with gingerbread.  Joseph Fels, the Philadelphia soap king of Fels Naphtha fame, was the original owner.  In the late 1960's this cottage was donated to the Camp Meeting Association and is open to the public with the support of the Historical Society of Ocean Grove.

LBS03 Heart-Blossoms-By-The-Sea, Ocean Grove, NJ  This seaside cottage, like most of the houses on Ocean Pathway, typifies the seaside chalet style that was a staple of vacation architecture in the late nineteenth century.  Built in 1870, and used as a summer religious retreat, this area has been called "The most beautiful short street in America."
   The poetry was added by a recent owner, who took it verbatim from an 1890 camp meeting report.  The author, Reverend Ellwood H.Stokes, helped found the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association in 1869.

LBS04 Hall Cottage, Cape May, NJ  Was a year-round residence of Joseph Hall, a wheelwright by trade.  This Cape May Gothic appears with traditional flat-cut gingerbread.  Now gold with blue trim, its color scheme was once reversed; blue with gold trim.  The original iron fencing is rare near the seashore; the salt spray generally disposes of it within a decade or two.  Having remained a private residence, this cottage is one of a number of well-maintained Victorian homes in Cape May.

LBS05 Ocean Pathway Princess, Ocean Grove, NJ, founded in 1869 by 13 ministers and 13 laymen as a permanent Camp Meeting ground and Christian seaside resort. Ocean Grove is one of the few Camp Meeting sites that still remains true to its original purpose. A Camp Meeting is still held here every Summer. Tents were the primary form of shelter for early visitors to Ocean Grove and 114 tent structures still stand. In addition, Ocean Grove is the largest assemblage of Victorian architecture in the nation and is entered on the National Register of Historic Places.

LBS06 Cape S Cape, Cape May, NJ, This oceanfrontVictorian sits among the greatest collection of late 19th century buildings in the U.S. Many dignitaries such as Presidents Franklin Pierce, Chester A. Arthur, and Ulysses S. Grant have visited this beautiful resort area. Congressman Abraham Lincoln visited Cape May prior to his presidency. John Phillip Sousa played a newly-composed march called "Congress Hall" on the lawn of a Cape May hotel which bears the same name.

LBS07 Dr. Henry Hunt House, Cape May, NJ.  Located at 209 Congress Place, the Dr. Henry Hunt House is typical of the eclectic styles of the 1870s and 1880s.  Built in 1881, the architecture includes Queen Anne, Stick, and Gothic Revival.

LBS08 Virginia Hotel, Cape May, NJ    Built in 1879 by Alfred and Ellen Ebbitt. It operated as a small hotel consistently through several owners until it was sold in the 1960's.  Cape May was "sleepy" at the time and the new owners decided to close the dining room and operate only as a boarding house.  In the early 1980's the entire structure was condemned.  The Virginia was purchased in 1986, completely renovated, and reopened in 1989.  The restored dining room was named the Ebbitt Room in honor of the founders and original operators of the hotel.

LBS09 Emlen Physick Estate, Cape May, NJ   Built in 1879, the Emlen Physick Estate was designed by Frank Furness in the unique "Stick Style".  The Physick Estate includes 15 authentically restored rooms and is now Cape May's only Victorian House Museum.

LBS10 Cape May Fire Station   This firehouse, now a museum, features the architectural styling common during the Victorian Era.   Most people identify Victorian style with residential landmarks, however cities began adopting this theme to improve the look of their municipal buildings.

LBS11 Albert Stevens Inn, Cape May, NJ   The Inn was built in 1898 for Dr. Albert G. Stevens, a homeopathic medical doctor, as a wedding gift for his bride, Bessie.
In 1980, the house was restored and converted to a Bed & Breakfast when Vesta Stevens-Olson, the only child of Albert and Bessie died.  Since Vesta did not have children, the house was sold to investors.

LBS12 Cape May Row, Cpae May, NJ   In 1871, $50,000 built this series of rental cottages located oposite and named in honor of the great Stockton Hotel.  These Gothic Revival structures are typical examples of the Cape May cottage.  The invention of the steam-powered scroll saw, and the development of balloon framing contributed to the rapid spread of Gothic villas and cottages lavishly adorned with "gingerbread" trim in the ofrm of brackets, porch railings, trelliswork and gable-end bargeboards.