Presidential Visits to Cape May: The Summer White House

Long before it became known for gingerbread-trimmed Victorian cottages and sandy summer crowds, Cape May, New Jersey was the place where America’s most powerful men came to escape the heat. Tucked at the southern tip of the Jersey Shore, this small resort town has quietly hosted five U.S. presidents, been the scene of historic political maneuvering, and even earned the nickname “Summer White House” for one lucky hotel. Beneath the beach umbrellas and boardwalk charm lies a surprisingly rich layer of presidential history, stretching from the years before the Civil War into the Gilded Age. It’s a reminder that Cape May has always been more than just a pretty place to catch an ocean breeze.

Here are some key takeaways from Cape May’s presidential history:

• Franklin Pierce was the first sitting president to visit, staying at Congress Hall over the Fourth of July in 1855 and giving an impromptu, humble speech to the assembled crowd.
• James Buchanan followed a few years later, stopping at Congress Hall in 1858, though he generally preferred the mountains of Pennsylvania to the shore for his presidential getaways.
• Ulysses S. Grant arrived in 1875 to a memorably bungled welcome, when a chartered tug boat accidentally stole his five-gun salute.
• Chester A. Arthur brought fashion and fanfare to Cape May in 1883, drawing thousands of onlookers and even wading into the surf to greet swimmers.
• Benjamin Harrison made Cape May’s Congress Hall his official “Summer White House” from 1889 to 1892, running the country from its ground floor while the actual White House was being rewired for electricity.
• Abraham Lincoln is rumored to have visited with his wife, though no documentation confirms it, making his connection to Cape May more legend than fact.

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Franklin Pierce – 14th President

The story really begins in 1855, when President Franklin Pierce checked into Congress Hall for the Fourth of July. The hotel’s owner had just advertised its dining hall as “unsurpassed” in the country, and Pierce, a former brigadier general, arrived with his wife to soak up the holiday atmosphere. Newspapers of the day described a festive scene: the Declaration of Independence read aloud by the Governor of Pennsylvania, followed by a surprised but gracious Pierce rising to speak about the importance of preserving the Union. It was a lighter moment for a man later remembered as one of the more tragic figures to hold the office, and he never returned to Cape May after that visit.

James Buchanan – 15th President

Word of Congress Hall’s charms apparently spread within political circles, because Pierce’s own Minister to Great Britain, James Buchanan, later stayed there too, in the summer of 1858, after becoming the 15th president. Buchanan wasn’t much of a beach person, though. He spent most of his presidential summers inland at a mountain resort in western Pennsylvania, and his Cape May stop was brief. As the nation’s only bachelor president, Buchanan relied on his niece Harriet Lane to serve as his First Lady.

Ulysses S. Grant – 18th President

Two decades passed before another president made the trip. Ulysses S. Grant’s 1875 visit turned into an unintentional comedy of errors. As his ship approached the Congress Hall pier, a separately chartered tug boat pulled up moments ahead of him, and the hotel’s cannons fired their ceremonial salute at the wrong vessel entirely. The confused crew responded with a blast of the steam whistle, scattering the crowd that had gathered to welcome the president. By the time Grant’s own boat arrived, the cannons had run out of ammunition, and he stepped ashore to a rather anticlimactic, quiet reception. One newspaper even poked fun at his rumpled black suit and lack of presidential “majesty.”

Chester Arthur – 21st President

Chester Arthur’s 1883 visit couldn’t have been more different. Known as “Elegant Arthur” for his tailored, fur-trimmed suits, he arrived to a crowd estimated at ten thousand people. He toured Congress Hall’s lawn, reviewed a rifle company, and later took a carriage ride along the beach with his daughter, only to be mobbed by swimmers who rushed out of the surf in their bathing costumes just to shake his hand. By evening, the beach was lit up in celebration as Arthur departed, having declared himself thoroughly pleased with his time in Cape May.

Benjamin Harrison – 23rd President

The most famous chapter, though, belongs to Benjamin Harrison. In 1891, with the White House undergoing a major renovation to install electricity, Harrison and his wife Caroline decamped to Cape May for the entire summer, taking over the ground floor of Congress Hall to conduct the nation’s business. It was there that Harrison wrestled with the escalating tensions in Hawaii, where American sugar plantation owners were pushing back against new tariffs, a dispute that would eventually help pave the way toward U.S. annexation of the islands years later. Even his family time wasn’t entirely free of duty. On the Fourth of July, Harrison spent the morning with his grandchildren before meeting with retail magnate and Postmaster General John Wanamaker to discuss post office business, prompting one newspaper to remark that it “was scarcely a holiday.” Harrison returned to Congress Hall again in 1893, this time as a private citizen, to sort through his papers and prepare lectures for Stanford University. It was this extended, working stay that gave Congress Hall its lasting nickname as the Summer White House.

Abraham Lincoln – 16th President

Not every presidential connection to Cape May is quite so well documented. Abraham Lincoln is said, by local legend, to have visited with his wife sometime around the Civil War era, but no records have ever confirmed the story. True or not, it speaks to just how deeply Cape May’s identity is tied to the presidents who walked its halls and breathed its salt air.

Congress Hall is an iconic Cape May institution located less than half-a-mile from the Wilbraham Mansion. Congress Hall was established in 1816 as the first seaside hotel in the country. Sixty-minute history tours led by a costumed interpreter are available for all Cape May visitors for $10. It is highly recommended as a stop as you explore the Revolutionary War, presidential, and African American history of the area.