by Ashley Mills

It’s pretty much a requirement for any New Jersey resident to spend copious amounts of time at the shore every summer. We all have our favorite spots, and, for my family, it’s Cape May. My mother is from New England, and Cape May’s historic charm is reminiscent of the quaint New England towns she visited as a child. But it still has a distinct Jersey Shore flavor in the beach and the shore-town shops that my father, a New Jersey native, was raised on.

Located on the southern tip of New Jersey, where the Delaware River meets the Atlantic Ocean, Cape May was founded by the Dutch, settled by New Englanders, and used by the US Navy as a base to protect American coastal shipping. The National Historic Landmark is now famous for its Victorian-era cottages. It is also home to the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities, which hosts a Sherlock Holmes themed weekend twice a year, in March and November.

I bought tickets for my mother’s birthday. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m certain this puts me in the running for the “Daughter of the Year” award.

The weekend starts off on Friday night with Act I. The event was hosted at the Inn of Cape May, also known as the Colonial Inn. It’s a gorgeous white Victorian style building right on the beach. There we were treated to cheesecake, coffee and tea, and given a packet containing notepads, pencils, and clue sheets. This was the Case of the Silver Fox, and I won’t give you any hints in case you decide to test your sleuthing ability in November. Act I ended with a suicide – or was it a murder? As Sherlock Holmes says, the game was on!

Afterwards, my mother and I returned to our lodgings for the night. We stayed at the Queen Victoria Bed and Breakfast, one of the many Victorian-era bed and breakfasts in Cape May. The Queen Vic, as it is known, was immaculately decorated, and its proprietors, Anne Marie and Doug were very attentive and went beyond the call of duty for their guests. They remembered that my mother was on a gluten-free diet from a previous stay and made sure to have gluten-free options for breakfast and snacks over the course of the weekend.

On Saturday, we were sent off to find clues to help us solve the mystery. This took the form of a self-guided tour of several area bed and breakfasts, all in Victorian buildings. Cape May is a very walkable town and the hunt for clues also gave us a nice tour of the town itself. We also had some time for shopping on the Washington Street Mall, a town center in a sense, with dozens of shops and restaurants.

After we filled out our clue sheets with what we found and our thoughts on the case, we went back to the Colonial Inn for coffee, cookies, and Act II. We handed in the clue sheets to be graded on the way in and were handed new ones on the way out. On these new clue sheets, we had to write down answers to a number of questions, including the big one – who did it?

My mother and I then went to Delany’s, an Irish pub on the Washington Street Mall. We were for an early dinner, so it was relatively quiet and we were able to spread out our notes and papers, discuss the mystery, and come up with a solution. The menu contained typical Irish-American fare, along with straight American food like burgers and pizza. The service was lacking, but, the food was good and there was a decent variety of beer.

After walking around a bit, we stopped at the Ebbitt Room at the Virginia Hotel for a drink. Winner of the 2014 OpenTable Diners’ Choice Award, this is a popular, ritzy bar and restaurant on the first floor of the hotel. We sat in the lounge on the other side of the building’s entrance from the restaurant, which felt more like a cozy sitting room for the hotel than a lounge. The wine and beer list left much to be desired, but there were plenty of cocktail and liquor options. We were given popcorn with our drinks, which was a fun touch.

Sunday was the last day of our adventure. We completed our clue sheets in the morning, writing two different answers to cover our bases. Then we went back to the Colonial Inn, handed in our clue sheets and watched Sherlock solve the mystery over lunch in Act III. We were given a grilled chicken sandwich, with a side salad and cup of tomato soup, with chocolate mousse as a dessert. At the end, two awards were given out. One was for the Clueless Wonder, someone who tried very hard to solve the mystery, but ended up being completely wrong. The Clueless Wonder was given tickets for next year’s Sherlock Holmes weekend, so that she could try again (and hopefully improve). The other award is for the winner, who scored the highest on the clue sheets. Surprisingly, my mother won, and was presented with $200 for her efforts, and a plush fox that the actor who played Sherlock deemed necessary for winning the Case of the Silver Fox.

Overall, this was a magnificent weekend. It’s on the pricey side (tickets for the Sherlock Holmes weekend are $100 per person, not including hotel), so it should be treated as a vacation more than a quick trip. However, it is a unique experience, which makes it special. Many of the people participating in the weekend were repeat customers, including one woman had been attending the Sherlock Holmes weekend for 24 out of the 25 years that the event has been in existence. Several people even dressed in period clothing for the event on the first night. You can see pictures of the event on my Instagram page, including a pictures the cast and the bed and breakfasts. I highly recommend the experience for any Sherlock Holmes fans.

My mother as the prize-winner with the cast of the Case of the Silver Fox.