Cape May as a Summer Resort Town

mantlepiece may as a Summer Resort townsfolkWill StevensA resort town is a town or city that relies heavily on the touristry as a of import driver to its economy. Considered among the oldest resort towns in the United States, p eitherium whitethorn, stark naked jersey is situated at the southern tip of the state of naked island of Jersey, and has provided edgegoers with a beautiful town since the mid(prenominal) 1700s. Owing to its rich news accounting as a whaling community, its role in both of the world wars, superior biddy watching landscape, its recognition as a National Historic Landmark, and New Jerseys large tourism industry, drape May continues to jollify success as a favorite summer stopping point.According to The city of p altogetherium May, the history of mantlepiece May can be traced both the way back to the late 17th Century when the land was outset settled. Its status as a beach destination began in the mid 1700s when horse-drawn carriages arriv ed from Philadelphia. Over sequence, hotels were built and the curtain became the major beach destination for cities such as Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and Washington. It wasnt until 1863, however, when the railroad surrounded by Philadelphia and drapery May was completed, that families began building summer pass homes blast the shore. several(prenominal) fires grow engulfed mantelpiece May, and bring on resulted in the towns desire to maintain a small town feel and not have to compete with the amply rise hotels that otherwise resort towns have. This decision is crucial to the history of curtain May architecture and is the main reason why the city is considered a National Historic Landmark. The cape May canal, Cape May Lewis Ferry, and the Cape May Coast Guard Station have also contri buted to the history of Cape May. (City of Cape May)In Philippos J. Loukissas journal denomination about the come to of regional development, he states, An increase in connectio ns with the outside world also is assumed to have the positive effect of introducing new ideas into the community. This hints at the immenseness of the Janelle stupefy used be economic geographers, and can be utilise to this history of Cape May as well. When the railroad between Philadelphia and Cape May was finished, this only further deepened the ties between the new places, and began the construction pass with flying colors of vacation homes down the shore. Alternatively, the completion of the of the garden State Parkway and the elicitation of services on the Cape May Lewis Ferry have by dint of with(p) wonders to connect Cape May and provide greater tourist exposure. The Garden State Parkway allows easier vehicle access with connectivity to the rest of the New Jersey highway network, and the Cape May Lewis allows Delawarean residents and travellers further south to access the Cape by way of the Delaware request.tourism is obviously a major destiny of Cape Mays history , but it is also important to view its role in New Jerseys economy as a whole. In 2008, tourism expenditures in New Jersey were $38.8 billion supported by all over 70 million visitors. Kenneth McGill even states in his report about New Jersey tourism that, NJ Tourism is larger than the finished GDP of 120 countries. And that, 1 in all 9 NJ workers owes his/her job to tourism. McGill also states that New Jerseys tourism industry is 2.1 clippings more concentrated than the US average, subject matter that the percentage of workers directly or indirectly employed by the tourism industry is 2.1 times greater than the average US state. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the load tourism industry is the third largest private sector in the state, backup over 350,000 jobs. Another staggering statistic presented by McGill is that other than investments and business travel, the in-state region to the total tourism expenditure is only 20%, while the out-of-state share is more than 3 times that, at 64%, while Diane Wieland states that over 75% of visitors to Cape May County come from out-of-state.When comparing the tourism statistics of Cape May County to those of the entire state of NJ, it is clear that the economy of Cape May is heavily reliant on the activities of the tourism industry. In McGills report on the tourism industry in New Jersey, it is say that 48.1% of the entire economy of Cape May County can be attributed to the travel and tourism industry. This is the largest percentage of all counties in the state, and shows on the button how important the industry is to southern New Jersey. McGill and Diane Wieland confirm the importance of Cape May as a summer resort town and popular vacation home destination in their statistics. McGill shows that over 50% of rental income of the entire state comes from Cape May County alone. Wieland also shows that nearly half of all rental and arcminute home properties in all of New Jersey are regain in Cape May County. In fact, according to Wieland, 47% of all residences in Cape May County are considered 2nd homes or vacation homes. (Wieland)Tourism in Cape May is not limited to just beachgoers looking for a relaxing vacation. The Delaware Bay, especially the New Jersey banks, is world-renowned locations for birdwatch watching. In Joanna Burgers report on the affects of tourism on the topical anaesthetic ecology, she mentions that the Delaware Bay area benefits from its low-lying mud flats and coastal marshes that are contributive to migrating shore birds. It was not until recently, however, that experts have realized that the millions of birds that pass through the Delaware Bay are attracted there by the abundance of horseshoe crab orchis in the springtime. The city of Cape May has taken advantage of this alone(p) characteristic and has encouraged eco tourism to the area. (Burger)My own experiences have been greatly influenced by the touristic, seasonal nature of Cape May. My grandparents first purc hased a property down the shore over 30 years ago, so the beach has been a big part of my familys lives since before I was born. We have been victorious weekend trips down the shore for my entire life, and I have washed-out the entirety of the summer, from when school gets out until Labor daylight, in Cape May for almost 10 years. Our post isnt big by any means, but it has enough beds that most of our family can be down simultaneously, and we have regularly had about 10 spate on any condition weekend. I can say with confidence that my family conforms to the typical summer vacationist stereotype. My grandparents will usually head down before memorialization Day to open up the house and get everything set up for the summer. Memorial Day is the first big weekend of the summer, and we are all usually down there. My babe and I are the only two that plosive with my grandparents for the entire summer, and we enjoy seeing our parents and aunts and cousins on weekends that they com e down and visit. My sister and I also contribute to some of the tourism statistics that I stated earlier. Both of us have seasonal jobs that rely completely on the summer tourism activity in Cape May. My sister is a beach tagger, collecting money for the city of Cape May for people to use the beaches, and I was a lifeguard at a topical anaesthetic campground. Both of these jobs are only sustainable during the summer months as the nation of Cape May swells.Much of mine and my familys experiences can be explained in Reiner Jaakscons article called Second Home Domestic-Tourism. Many passages from his article relate directly to my life and experiences down the shore. The second home offers a sense of identity at many levels, approximating in microcosm a concentric-circles model of ethnocentricity. (Jaakson 378) This is true with many small towns, but especially true with Cape May. It is nice to be able to identify with other people who have shore homes and also occur their summers d own the shore comparing experiences through a shared commonality and lifestyle. The very idea of a second home that is used primarily, if not exclusively, for leisure and recreation has an element of bear believe. (Jaakson 379) The fact that it is the summer means that I have no other responsibilities other than to relax and enjoy myself. Because I am not in school five days a week means that my time spent in Cape May is used as a sort of escape from the real world where I can go to the beach and swim in the ocean and sleep in as long as I want and enjoy the hot summer weather.Our summer home provides me with a relaxing retreat from normal life, but it also allows our family to be much closer. The second home provides for family togetherness of a disparate kind from that available in the city. (Jaakson 379) This is especially true for my family. We are a very close family anyway, all living within 15 proceeding of each other at home, but the closeness of our beach house allows us to have tighter bonds. The smaller physical space and the immediate open facilitate a closer family togetherness (Jaakson 380) These two quotes from Jaakson perfectly encapsulate the dynamics within my family. While we live close together at home, we male parentt visit each other often. It is a completely antithetic story in the summertime. My sister and I are excited to spend time with our aunts when they come down and visit, and I enjoy spending time with my cousins when they are down too. Our summer home provides a platform for all of our family to come together and spend time with one another.Throughout its history, Cape May has evolved from a whaling community into one of the nations oldest beach towns. Its location at the southern tip of New Jersey and its long-standing popularity with Philadelphians and other out-of-state tourists have cemented Cape Mays position as one of the most popular summer beach towns in the country.Works CitedBurger, Joanna. Landscapes, Tourism, an d Conservation. Science of the Total surroundings 249.1-3 39-49. Print.Cape May History. The City of Cape May. Cape May City, 2009. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. http//www.capemaycity.com/Cit-e-Access/webpage.cfm?TID=103TPID=10704.Jaakson, Reiner. Second-Home Domestic Tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 13.3 (1986) 367-91. Print.Loukissas, Philippos J. Tourisms Regional Development Impacts a Comparative Analysis of the Greek Islands. Annals of Tourism Research 9.4 (1982) 523-41. Print.McGill, Kenneth. NJ Tourism Holding Its Own During Difficult Times. VisitNJ.org. State of New Jersey, 2008. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. http//www.visitnj.org/sites/visitnj.org/files/tourism-ecom-impact-2008.pdf.Wieland, Diane. Tourism Impacts in Cape May County. Cape May County. Cape May County, 2006. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. http//www.capemaycountygov.net/FCpdf/Tourism Impacts in Cape May County AVALON.pdf.Wood, Ida Leigh, Jerry Tirrito, and Mariana Leckner. New Jersey Coastal Community Resilience Demonstration Project Report . NJ Sea Grant Consortium. N.p., Dec. 2010. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.