HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
An 1846 plantation-style restaurant built to mimic Mount Vernon, where a child spirit named Elizabeth calls out staff members by name when they work alone — and reportedly went quiet after a renovation removed the central staircase.
801 Washington St, Cape May, NJ 08204
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Well-behaved children are welcome; no high chairs are provided and strollers must be checked with valet service.
Cost
$$$
Fine-dining restaurant; dinner reservations recommended. See washingtoninn.com for menus and pricing.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Plantation-style building; ground-floor dining accessible; historic property
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1846 · Pre-1878 Cape May Structure · Plantation-Style / Mount Vernon Reference Architecture · Cape May Fine Dining Institution
The Washington Inn building dates to 1846, constructed in a plantation style that architects of the era specifically associated with George Washington's Mount Vernon estate on the Potomac. The design was a deliberate cultural reference: plantation-style portico architecture carried associations with founding-era American prestige and was used for resort buildings intended to convey status.
The building predates the 1878 fire that destroyed much of Cape May's earlier resort architecture, making it one of the older surviving structures in the city. Its Washington Street address places it along one of Cape May's main commercial and hospitality corridors, within walking distance of the Victorian residential district.
The Craig family has operated the Washington Inn as a fine-dining restaurant for an extended period, and their stewardship has shaped both the physical building and its public identity. A renovation in which the Craig family removed the building's central staircase is documented in local paranormal accounts — not as a standard renovation detail but because staff associated Elizabeth's activity with the staircase and reported that it quieted afterward.
Cape May Magazine's coverage of the city's haunted dining establishments treats the Washington Inn as one of the more historically grounded cases: a documented building, a named spirit with consistent behavior, and a physical change to the building that coincided with a change in reported activity.
Sources
The ghost associated with the Washington Inn goes by the name Elizabeth. Staff members working alone in the dining room and kitchen have reported hearing their own names called out — an experience distinct from generic 'presence' reports because the voice is directed at specific, identifiable people. Elizabeth has reportedly been photographed in the dining room and has appeared visually to witnesses there.
The more unusual element of the Washington Inn's haunting is the staircase story. When the Craig family renovated the building and removed the central staircase, staff reported that Elizabeth's activity diminished noticeably. The change in paranormal activity following a specific structural modification is a specific and testable claim — it places the haunting in physical space rather than treating it as ambient background noise.
Cape May Magazine's survey of the city's haunted bars and restaurants covered the Washington Inn, noting Elizabeth's behavior and the staircase connection as the features that set it apart from the more general reports at other establishments.
Grunge's independent account of Cape May's haunted history reports both the 1846 building history and the Elizabeth ghost story separately, so the connection between the structure and the spirit does not rest on a single source.
Notable Entities
Dine in the 1846 plantation-style building on Washington Street. Staff have reported a child spirit named Elizabeth calling out their names when they work alone in the dining room and kitchen. The Craig family's removal of the central staircase during renovations reportedly quieted Elizabeth's activity — a detail that has become part of the restaurant's informal folklore.
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