NORTH CAPE MAY – A local effort has mounted year after year to dress up Beach Drive, right before David Douglass Park, with Christmas cheer.
The sandy drive, right by the canal and the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, is marked every holiday season by dozens of “Christmas trees” thanks to locals who bring ornaments, lights, garland, and other décor to the waterside road.
Brian Trotter, of North Cape May said that the tradition started six years ago when his family decorated a tree on the Beach Drive roadside; other locals took note, and now over 30 trees stand decorated.
Trotter said, “I moved here six years ago, and my parents and I decided on a lark to decorate one of the trees… it’s actually a juniper, I think.”
He explained that they picked one tree out and put some balls on it, etc.
“Over the season, people put garland or other things on the tree, too” he said.
“I marked the tree with an old Red Stripe bottle on the top, so we knew in the future which was ours,” he added. “People would beep and wave as we decorated and over the last six years, it grew from a couple to… now maybe over 30 trees.
“I’m not sure we were the first, but there were very few when we started. It just seems to have caught on… we even put Easter eggs on it in the spring and we haven’t been alone.”
