Many, many readers have reached out to me saying they love Cape May, the main setting for my award-winning series, THE GHOST CHRONICLES. Some have asked me to share pictures and one even asked if I could include a map of Cape May with all the landmarks in the next book! So, I thought it might be fun to let you all see some of my pictures of the actual places I visited and researched in Cape May, Wildwood, and Atlantic City, NJ. As best I can, I’ve tried to put these in the order in which they appear in Book Two.
First, there’s the Angel of the Sea, the famous bed and breakfast where Michael meets Sarah in Book One and where they spend much of their time in Book Two. An artist’s rendition graces the cover of THE GHOST CHRONICLES 1 & 2, but here’s what the beautiful hotel looks like in real life, both lit up at night and snow-covered.
In Chapter Two, Michael and Sarah take a late night stroll around the Washington Street Mall on Christmas Eve. This is a picture I took on a snowy evening, much like the scene in the book. Is the pedestrian mall deserted, or full of spirits milling about? I’ll let you use your imagination.
This is the sign which I also mention in Chapter Two.
This is a picture of the Sweet Shop with the replica Ferris Wheel in the window, which also gets a mention. I changed the name from Sweet House to Cape May Sweet Shop, because I thought it had a nicer ring to it.
The next picture includes a close up of Whales Tale, and the antique pedestal clock (we all know why that’s so important). Incidentally, to the best of my knowledge the clock doesn’t actually chime, so I took a little literary license with that detail 🙂
Here are two pictures of Our Lady Star of the Sea, the church that appears in Chapter Three, seen here with a closeup of the bell tower.
This is the wreckage of the S.S. Atlantus, which sits just offshore at Sunset Beach and plays an important role in Chapter Three.
Now, I couldn’t wait to share these pictures of Congress Hall! This is the place where Chapter Eight and the New Year’s Eve Glitter Ball takes place. As you can see, the building does resemble a Southern-style plantation. They give tours and I highly recommend taking one.
This is Juno’s Anchor, which can be found at the back of Congress Hall.
This is Congress Hall’s ballroom and it really is painted the exact blue of a Tiffany gift box. When it was being renovated, they polled the staff as to what color the room should be painted and Tiffany’s signature version of Robin’s egg blue was what they decided upon. On the podium in the right hand corner you can even see the Congress Hall logo with the key between the C and the H.
And at Christmastime, they really do line Founders Hall (the bottom floor of Congress Hall) with floor-to-ceiling candy canes and evergreen. Towards the far end of the hall you can see where the marble floor does indeed turn to wood. Bottom left is even the gingerbread house replica of Congress Hall that gets mentioned in the book too 🙂
In Chapter Thirteen, Michael and Sarah find themselves in Wildwood for Valentine’s Day. This is the roller coaster in that scene and we all know what happens here 🙂
Later, in Chapter Fifteen, our ghosts visit Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. I was lucky enough to get a private tour of Boardwalk Hall (which really is the size of an airplane hangar). The second picture is of the console of ‘Poseiden’, the grand organ and largest musical instrument in the world, which they played just for me 🙂
Towards the end of the book, we all know there are pivotal scenes which take place in Wildwood. This is the Giant Wheel on Mariner’s Pier.
This is the side-view of the Giant Wheel and Sea Serpent rides. Notice the diagonal supports that hold up the Ferris Wheel and the tall incline of the Sea Serpent in front of the wheel 😉
Finally, here is the Dante’s Dungeon ride on the Surfside Pier.
In a later post, I’m going to go back and show you the pictures from Boston and Saugus. But this post was long enough, so I thought I’d just stick with the NJ pictures.
If you haven’t read the books yet, now is a great time! THE GHOST CHRONICLES 1 is free if you have Amazon Prime or Kindle Unlimited. It’s also available at B&N, too 🙂
And THE GHOST CHRONICLES 2 is also out now:
And if you’d like a signed copy, I’ll be at Barnes & Noble in Bridgewater, NJ this Saturday, 2/3 from 6-9 PM for Harry Potter Night! All the details can be found on my Events/Contact page.
Hope you enjoyed the post and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below! Oh, and if you have read the books and have a minute, please leave a review (especially on Amazon) – it really helps out an author 🙂
~Marlo
As many of you know, the setting for most of THE GHOST CHRONICLES was inspired by The Angel of the Sea, an award-winning bed and breakfast in Cape May, NJ that I visited several years ago. This spectacular inn has been featured on several television programs and in magazines throughout the world. Most notably, it was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as one of the “Best Vacations in the World” and included in her television talk show. The Angel of the Sea is one of the most recognized Victorian structures in the United States. Legend has it that in the late 1960’s, a girl fell to her death at the Angel of the Sea and did at one time, haunt the inn. The story of the girl has been included in several non-fiction books about ghosts in Cape May. My heroine in THE GHOST CHRONICLES, Sarah McConnell, was inspired by this legend.
Friends and Fans,
