New Jersey - Day 14 - Cape May

Clarksboro KOA

Friday, 14 December 2018

today's route

The terrible weather that crossed through Texas and the South is now working its way up the East Coast and is expected here this weekend.  As a prelude, we had very low clouds for most of the day, with the rain forecast to start tonight.  I decided to do some sightseeing while it’s still dry.  Cape May was today’s destination.

New Jersey does something I haven’t seen in other states.  When I see a highway sign saying “Road Work 2 miles” what it means isn’t that I can expect work on the roadway for the next 2 miles, but instead that I can expect there will be road work 2 miles down the road from the sign.  And sure enough, in 2 miles I find a crew working on the road.  It’s taken me a lot of driving here to figure out that’s what those signs mean – I’m a slow learner – but I really didn’t expect it, either.

Route 47 that I took after the main highway has been designated the Bayshore Heritage Highway.  It runs from Glassboro down almost to Cape May, although I don’t know if the whole length is part of it.  I imagine there were historical events all through the state, considering it’s one of the original colonies, so I’m not sure why this piece of it’s got the designation, but there it is.

I can say, however, that it’s a lovely drive, even in December.  I went past farms and vineyards, of course, lots of cows and horses (Dexter always has a strong reaction to the sight of large mammals – even at a distance – pretty funny).  And when the road got closer to the coast I started seeing acres of some kind of tall yellow grass.  I think they must have been wetlands, but it didn’t look like the reeds I’ve seen so often in other wetlands areas, so I don’t know what the grass is.  I wanted very much to stop and take a photo – though I’m not sure how much it would have shown besides acres of yellow – but there was no place at all for me to pull over anywhere near those areas.

(Historic) Dennisville is the home of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church.  I’d never heard of her so looked her up and have to say I was surprised by her story.  In case you’re interested, I’m attaching the Wikipedia link here.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_of_Hungary

I passed tree farms and a school with a huge solar farm on its grounds and the Cape May County Mosquito Control building (I guess they’ve got big problems here, too).

To get to Cape May you have to go over the Intracoastal Waterway.  They don’t have a sign at the bridge but I (cleverly) guessed that’s what it was and have confirmed it on the map.

The town of Cape May isn’t on the water, because people used to recognize the dangers of building there (so are beachfront homes a sign of reverse evolution?).  There was lots of gingerbread and porches and turrets – nice little town.

This lighthouse where Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean was built in 1859 and is still in use today.  That’s longevity.

Distant gulls at Cape May beach

The dogs and I walked on the beach a bit, though I was reluctant to disturb the gulls – a birdwatcher told me they were mostly Herring Gulls and Black-backed Gulls.

shorebird information

raptor information

Cape May (the cape, not the town) is in a prime location to catch the migration of all kinds of birds, and that’s what it’s most famous for.  The spring shorebird migration here is the 2nd largest shorebird assembly in the Western Hemisphere.

What I didn’t know is that Cape May is also a prime stopover for monarch butterflies on their way to Mexico.  They get banded here and some of these butterflies have been identified in Mexico.  What on earth would a butterfly band look like?   Surely not like bird bands, which are lightweight metal bands around their legs.  Incredible.

This link gives information about what bird species to expect when.   www.capemaytimes.com/birds/migration  These 2 links give information about migrations of both birds and butterflies, especially the 2nd one.   www.nydailynews.com  & http://capemaycountynj.gov/946/Birding-Butterflies

I came back north along the coast, sort of, except the coast is a series of barrier islands connected by toll bridges, and I didn’t really want to take the time today to go that route.  So I went just inland through a bunch of small towns, like Cape May Courthouse.  That name has always seemed odd to me – it was named for the courthouse built there for Cape May County.  I guess it’s along the same non-creative lines as State College, PA.  Anyway, it’s got a business with the name of Bruncheonette, which I’m still having some trouble with.

I passed a farm selling hay, straw and salt hay.  Having never heard of salt hay I looked it up and learned it’s natural to salt marshes along the Atlantic coast, and that early settlers preferred it over regular hay for their livestock as being more nutritious, and that Martha Stewart prefers it for mulch because its seeds aren’t as invasive as regular hay.  See what you can learn?

Everywhere I’ve been passing signs offering grave blankets.  I can't imagine why they’d be so popular or so needed that so very many people would be offering to sell them to me.

Something else I realized today is that I haven't seen a hill in weeks.  This whole bottom half of New Jersey is flat flat flat.  Such a contrast from what I've been seeing the last 8 months.