An 1872 Italianate designed by Philadelphia architect Stephen Decatur Button, originally a gentlemen's gambling clubhouse, now twelve bed-and-breakfast rooms across the main house and a courtyard cottage.
"The Mainstay was a gentlemen's gambling club before it was a guest house, and the original 1872 Italianate proportions (fourteen-foot ceilings, the floor-to-ceiling parlor windows, the central staircase) are why it still photographs better than any other Cape May bed and breakfast."
The Mainstay Inn occupies one of the most architecturally significant residences in Cape May. The house was designed in 1872 by Stephen Decatur Button, the Philadelphia architect whose name appears on more than a dozen of Cape May's surviving Italianate landmarks, and it was built specifically as a gentlemen's gambling clubhouse for the wealthy Philadelphians who summered in the village in the 1870s. The Clubhouse, as it was then known, operated through the late 1890s until gambling was outlawed in New Jersey; the building passed to Fanny Wistar Scott in 1898 as a private summer residence, to the Frank O'Brien family in 1945, and to the Reverend and Mrs John Pemberton in 1949, who converted it to the Victorian Mansion guest house. Tom and Sue Carroll purchased the property in 1977, completed a full restoration, and opened the building as the Mainstay Inn (the current owners, Pete and Esther Scalone, took over in March 2014).
The twelve guest rooms are split across two structures. The main house holds six named rooms across three floors: the Cape May Diamond and the Henry Clay Room on the second floor, the Stonewall Jackson Room on the third (the largest single room in the house, with the full fourteen-foot ceiling), and three smaller rooms in the gabled corners. The Cottage across the side courtyard holds another six rooms in a smaller two-storey structure built later in the 1880s; these are slightly more domestic in scale and somewhat more contemporary in their amenities (most include a whirlpool tub and a private balcony). The Beach Apartment, a separate one-bedroom unit on a side street, handles longer stays. Every room is restored in period antiques and reproductions, every room has a private bathroom (a rarity for a Cape May bed and breakfast at this category), and every room is non-smoking.
Breakfast is the central daily ritual: a hot four-course menu served at nine in the original dining room of the main house in the cooler months, or buffet-style on the wraparound veranda in summer. Afternoon tea at four in the British style, with sandwiches, sweets, and savories, is included; sherry and port are set out in the parlor in the late afternoon; and the Carrolls' original library of Cape May architectural history remains in the front sitting room. The inn does not have an on-site bar or restaurant beyond the breakfast service, but the Washington Street Mall and the Carpenter Lane shops are a four-minute walk, the Atlantic is a six-minute walk, and the Ebbitt Room at the Virginia Hotel and the Blue Pig Tavern at Congress Hall are the village's two most consistent dinner reservations within ten minutes.
The Mainstay Inn is the Cape May booking for guests who specifically want the small historic bed and breakfast rather than the larger resort. Twelve rooms means the breakfast table is intimate, the afternoon tea is genuinely sociable, and the front-of-house staff knows every guest by name within the first morning. The Stonewall Jackson Room is the property's photogenic statement room; the Cottage rooms are the practical pick for a slightly longer stay with the whirlpool tub; and the Beach Apartment is the privacy maximizer for a multi-night anniversary. Booking two to three months ahead is standard; the Christmas weeks book six months out.
A Mainstay Inn anniversary is the Cape May version of a small Charleston or Savannah historic B&B. The Stonewall Jackson Room with the fourteen-foot ceiling is the milestone pick; the Cottage rooms with the whirlpool tub and the private balcony are the slightly more contemporary alternative; the afternoon tea handles the late arrival; and the Carrolls' original library handles the rainy hour before the Ebbitt Room reservation.
The Mainstay is one of the better Cape May solo retreats. Twelve rooms and a single breakfast seating means the table is a manageable handful of strangers, the parlor and the library are quiet through the afternoon, and the village walks (the Promenade, the Cape May Point Lighthouse, the bird sanctuary at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge) are the natural day programme. Bring a book and a notebook.
A small-inn honeymoon at the Mainstay is the Cape May alternative to the larger Congress Hall resort week. The Beach Apartment is the privacy maximizer; the Cottage rooms with the whirlpool tub are the celebration version; and the breakfast-and-tea routine eliminates the planning friction of an ordinary week. Walk to the Ebbitt Room or the Blue Pig for dinner.
635 Columbia Avenue
Cape May, NJ 08204
United States
Columbia Avenue Historic District; 4-minute walk to Washington Street Mall; 6-minute walk to the Atlantic
12 rooms (6 main house + 6 cottage) + Beach Apartment
From USD 245/night (shoulder season)
Summer high season USD 395-475/night
Beach Apartment is a separate unit
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Built 1872 by Stephen Decatur Button
Adult-oriented (older children welcome on case basis)
Hot four-course breakfast included
Afternoon tea in the British fashion
Sherry and port in the parlor
Private bathrooms in every room
Whirlpool tubs in cottage rooms
Off-street parking
Free Wi-Fi
14-foot ceilings in the main parlor
From USD 245/night. Twelve rooms means summer weekends sell out two to three months ahead; the Christmas weeks and Mother's Day weekend are the toughest single booking windows.
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