Stock Photo of Congress Hall Main Entrance Cape May New Jersey

Congress Hall was constructed in 1816 as a boarding house for guests at the new seaside resort of Cape May; and the proprietor, Thomas H. Hughes, called it "The Big House." Locals, thinking it too big to be successful, called it "Tommy's Folly."In 1828, when Hughes was elected to the House of Representatives, he changed the name of his hotel to Congress Hall. Congress Hall burned to the ground in Cape May's Gr