The Longfellow Guest House

A Cape May family home since 1851


The Longfellow Guest House provides the perfect rental accomodations for families and friends (click image) Story Summary: The Longfellow Guest House is, simply, a wonderful Cape May family vacation home rental. In the same family since 1851, this historic house combines old world Cape May charm with modern comforts and privacy. Located in the heart of Cape May's Victorian district, the Longfellow Guest House provides central location, plenty of parking, highly valued privacy, and a wonderful connection to the history and heritage that Cape May is famous for.

For this capemayX interview, we met with Alix Longfellow.Along with her brothers, she manages the Longfellow Guest House. We chatted about the family lineage and how old classics (like the Longfellow Guest House) seem to never really go out of style.

What exactly is a Guest House?
Good question! The difference between a Guest House and Bed & Breakfast (B&B) can be confusing. Typically a B&B is a boarding house that rents rooms or suites to parties of two or three. And you share the common house areas with others. With a Guest House you rent the entire house and get access to all its features. A Guest House, or as some people prefer the old fashioned term, guest cottage, gives you the feeling and comfort of being in a beautiful old home while on vacation. We're a Guest House.

Oh, now that makes sense. So who rents a Guest House?
Generally it's families, friends and their children who might require the extra room a spacious home can offer while on vacation. For example, a favorite house activity for our tenants, and something we did all the time growing up, is cook a big seafood meal with all the trimmings. You know, steamed lobsters and clams and fresh jersey silver queen corn, Jersey beefsteak tomatoes, hand cranked ice cream for dessert. We'd sit around the kitchen table telling stories, playing the guitar and enjoying the evening with family and friends. Many families that stay here do the exact same thing. It creates memories of their Cape May visit that lasts a lifetime.



Sounds perfect.
They certainly were great memories for our family. And it's nice to see other families share in that same, special Cape May magic.

What makes your Guest House so unique?
Cape May is America's oldest shore resort so there are a ton of wonderful places to stay — Guest Houses as well as Bed & Breakfast and Hotel accommodations. Each with their own personality. As for our house? Well, the house been in our family handed down from generation to generation since 1851. That's pretty unique. Also, we've had no major architectural changes. And families really like that we've kept much of the old style charm with family pictures and lovely old furniture. And since we're on Cape May's oldest residential street, we're right in the heart of the Victorian District. So you're completely plugged into the heart and soul of what makes this town great. Horse and carriage tours even clip clop up our street regularly and children absolutely love that. It's really a neat experience for the entire family. I guess we have a lot of unique things to offer the vacation goer.

You certainly do. Is everything about the house all old fashioned?
Certainly, a lot of what we offer has an old style charm to it. We did that on purpose because we wanted our guests to feel connected to the best of the classic Cape May experience. For example, there's a picture of our house from 1886 with our family out front. We love that. But we also provide modern accommodations that are important for today's families and professionals: a big fridge, garbage disposal, gas grill, and so forth. And we also have a broadband wireless internet connection so people can connect to the office from our front porch. Our guests really, really love that feature. Imagine sitting on the front porch with your morning cup of coffee, checking your email messages and watching the horse and buggies go by. Absolutely wonderful! Oh, and our driveway is new. That's actually pretty important during the crowded summer months.

That's great. So it looks like staying at your Guest House gives people the best of old and new. As it relates to their Cape May vacation.
That's right.

Finally, what's a favorite thing you like to do in town?
Dine at Louisa's Restaurant with friends. Just the perfect little spot, you can grab a bottle of wine at Colliers half a block away, and the vanilla bread pudding with white whiskey sauce is simply out of this world. I think it's one of the best ever created. Though I'm not sure though if they still serve it or not.

How to contact the Longfellow Guest House:

Longfellow Guest House Website: longfellowhouse.com
Email: inquiries
Seasons available: year 'round
Good to know: Fall and Spring specials
for smaller groups. Click here to learn more.