Americana
"Today the Mainstay remains the most beautiful conservative Victorian home in a town full of lovely old high-style places, and passers-by still stop and stare at it."
New York
"To see and be seen is the point of the white columned veranda, which extends around three sides of the house and is furnished with rockers and swings. This is a corner house and while most Cape May yards range from perfunctory to tiny, this one is ample and lush and always in flower, especially around the iron fountain."
Country Magazine
"Surely it would be impossible not to unwind here, not to feel as if one had found, at long last, that perfect summer getaway where every care in the world is swept away by the pull of the tides."
Victorian Homes
"The pristine appearance of The Mainstay Inn belies a racy past. This Italianate Villa was built in 1872 by a group of well-heeled gentlemen for use as a private gambling and entertainment club. These gentlemen spared nothing in the construction and decoration of their club, which boasts a sweeping veranda, high ceilings, and luxurious interiors."
Insider
"The parlors and other rooms of the Mainstay are filled with period furniture that has been restored so that it doesn't seem "antique," but new."
Paul Grimes, Condé Nast Traveler
"Architecturally, no inn, anywhere, quite matches the Mainstay, an Italianate villa with a broad veranda, built in 1872 as a gambling and entertainment club for gentlemen."
Smithsonian
"The Mainstay Inn was once Jackson's Clubhouse in the days when it was popular with gamblers. Grand parlor of the Mainstay Inn today looks much as it did in the 1870's. So do other rooms in the inn."
Travel and Leisure
"If you can get a reservation at the Mainstay, by all means take it. In a town of charming B&B's, this Italianate Villa seems to float dreamily above the rest."
Architectural Digest's Classic Country Inns
"Today the interiors and exteriors of the Mainstay sparkle like the sea by which it sits, testimony to a lively recycling of the past."
The Washington Post
"The jewel of them all has got to be the Mainstay. If you're lucky enough to pick up a cancellation there, you're in for a treat."
National Geographic Traveler
"Behind its picket fence, a broad veranda and porch swings beckon. I had passed the Mainstay many times before, but had never actually gone in. Now I found that beyond its narrow, 13-foot-high windows lies Victorian luxury, probably the most successful rendition of it to be had at any of Cape May's Inns."
Philadelphia Magazine
"Despite the Mainstay's tendency to be written about by virtually all travel writers (not always a good sign), its reputation is well deserved."
Offshore Magazine
"The Antiques Road Show could camp out here for a week and barely dent its treasures."
Washington Times
"Cape May will forever dispel the image of crowded, concrete and asphalt New Jersey. The town is cool, clean and jolly. There are no fast food places, no boom boxes. Ancient hotels with swaying front porch rockers hold court here."
Travel and Leisure Golf
"In a town devoted to its Victorian homes and inns, The Mainstay is the undisputed grande dame."
General Store
"The Mainstay, with its intricate Italianate architecture and opulent parlors and guestrooms, positively oozes Victorian charm."
Washingtonian
"The Mainstay is Cape May's most elegant inn."
Coastal Living
"In 1971 The Mainstay Inn, Cape May's first bed-breakfast, opened. It's still probably the best - and that's saying something. The historic district is filled with good ones."
1000 Places to See Before You Die
"The Mainstay Inn was among the town's first bed-and-breakfasts, and remains one of its undisputed gems. A dignified Italianate manor one block from the ocean, it was built in 1872 as a gentlemen's exclusive gambling club."
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