Cape Island, The Jewel of the Jersey Shore is a comprehensive, chronological history of Cape May, New Jersey. It brings the people of the town to life and tells the stories of those Cape Islanders, who, through the ages, created the charming seaside village that we find today at the southernmost tip of New Jersey. They are a rugged band of individuals who began by stubbornly carving out a life from a cluster of whaler farmers' homes on an exposed strip of storm lashed sand dunes, and evolved their lot into the Queen of Seaside Resorts. About ten years ago John and Bernie Haas, the publisher of Cape May Magazine and Capemay.com, were chatting about Cape May history. Bernie said, in passing, that we needed a new version of the book about Cape May that Lewis Townsend Stevens wrote in 1897, History of Cape May County. Those words put a plan of action into John's head that he couldn't shake. He began the long trek of research, reading, and writing that ultimately resulted in Cape Island, The Jewel of the Jersey Shore. Stevens' book ends in 1897. John's book ends in 2011. The book is richly illustrated with John's watercolors, drawings, photos, and postcard collection. It is completely indexed and contains a full listing of source references. It is a riveting good read, suitable for the beach or the coffee table, yet it is intended to be a source document for Cape May researchers far into the future. Like Stevens', John's book begins with the Native Americans that resorted to Cape Island long before the first European explorers even thought of crossing the Atlantic. It focuses on the individuals and personalities of those that explored the Island, those that owned land on the Island, and those that developed the Island. As with most land's-end/island communities, Cape Island has attracted unusual people, independent, free thinking individuals that can endure its demanding location exposed to the vagaries of the mighty ocean and its monstrous storms. Cape Islanders are a persistent bunch that tenaciously rebuilds after every fire or flood that torments them. This is their story, a chronicle that includes adventurers, whalers, farmers, fishermen, artists, authors, poets, musicians, actors, lighthouse keepers, innkeepers, shopkeepers, soldiers, sailors, preachers, and politicians all living one after the other, or side-by-side and shoulder-to-shoulder - the long suntanned line of Cape Islanders. Explore their unfolding story from the first native Americans that lived here through those that formed its Victorian rebirth and its condominium phase.
About the Author: John Bailey lives in Cape May, NJ. He began his writing career as a computer technical writer, writing user manuals for National Cash Register Co. and Digital Equipment Corporation. His writing credits include, Sentinel of the Jersey Cape, The Story of the Cape May Lighthouse and Juet's Journal, A Translation. He is a past president of the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities, the organization that saved and restored the Physick Estate, now an important Cape May house museum designed by the architect Frank Furness. During his tenure the group restored and opened the Cape May Lighthouse to visitors. The citizens of Cape May twice elected him to their City Council. He and his wife Nancy are master leather craftsmen and operated the Baileywicke Leather Shop on Washington Street in Cape May for 30 years. They are now semi-retired while John explores his water color talents and writes the books he's dreamed of for those thirty years. He is a Vietnam Navy veteran.