Fodor's Expert Review The Southern Mansion

The stunning Italianate mansion, one of the few large estates to survive Cape May's Great Fire of 1879, now serves as a boutique hotel. Its brightly painted rooms—robin's-egg blue, mustard yellow, deep red—are filled with Victorian antiques, such as ornate fireplace mantels and four-poster beds, as well as modern amenities like phones with data ports. Stroll along the garden path and admire the flowers, especially abundant in May, or visit in December to see the parlors decked out with Christmas trees and garlands appropriate to the Victorian era.