Cool Cape May 2020-21

[20] the first resort excerpt
A. W. Tompkins, the hotel was a huge four-story structure
that sat on 10 acres spanning from Decatur to Ocean
streets, along Washington. The United States quickly
became one of the most popular hostelries in town with
its wide, sweeping verandas, panoramic ocean views and
evening entertainment that amused guests and locals.
Cape Island was presented with the grandest spectacle
of all in 1852 when construction began on the Mount
Vernon Hotel, designed to be the largest in the world and
including features that no Cape Island hotel — or, for
that matter, ANY hotel — had ever offered. The Mount
Vernon, according to the London Illustrated News, was
the first in the world to offer en suite bathrooms.
The building was purported to accommodate up to
3,500 people, a number that was unheard of in the early
Victorian period. Plans for the hotel were elaborate and
called for running hot and cold water, a pistol-firing
range, bowling alleys and gas lighting in every room.
Guests at the Mount Vernon paid $12 for an entire week
or $2.50 a day, $2 a day if they were staying more than
four nights.
The hotel was funded by a number of investors in
Philadelphia and New Jersey who teamed with a gentleman
named John West and founded the Mount Vernon
Hotel Company. The amount of work required to build
their fantastic hotel was so great that it had to be undertaken
in phases. This was done to allow the completed
portions of the hotel to accommodate guests while the
rest was still under construction.
Ads for the hotel were run in both Philadelphia and
New York City newspapers, presenting a world-class
image of the Mount Vernon and misrepresenting the
hotel’s partially-completed construction. This advertisement,
published in the New York Daily Herald on May
28, 1855, demonstrates the way the hotel was promoted:
“The above house has been completely finished and furnished,
and will comfortably accommodate 1,500 guests.
The house is situated within the city, standing by itself
on probably the best beach for bathing in the world. The
house is upward of 800 feet in length, the dining room is
450 feet. Altogether the Mount Vernon Hotel affords the
coolest and most delightful retreat in the world. Families
of six persons and upwards can be accommodated with
private tables, having their meals furnished at any hour
agreeable to them. An ordinary table will also be set at
regular hours for those who are not in parties, and who
may prefer a table d’hote. A large number of private dining
rooms have this season been added, for arties desiring
to be strictly private. An artesian well has been bored
nearly 100 feet in depth, and furnishes pure soft water
throughout the house. Large and commodious stabling
have been added. The hotel has every modern improvement;
indeed, everything has been ordered to give comfort
and pleasure to the guests.”
Four years after building started, the Mount Vernon
was able to accommodate a little more than 2,000 people.
But, as the craftsmen were finishing up work on the last
section of the hotel in September of 1856, tragedy struck.
The hotel was empty, with the exception of the innkeeper,
Phillip Cain; his four children, Anderson (20), Phillip Jr
(18), Martha (16) and Sarah (13); along with a housekeeper,
Anna Albertson. All were asleep on the second
floor when an unknown person broke in to the building
and set the fire.
Only Phillip Jr escaped, though he suffered severe
burns and died the following afternoon in the United
States Hotel. Before he died, he was able to describe the
scene in his family’s apartment — they’d realized they
were trapped by the flames and tried to escape by jump-