Built in 1882, the Carroll Villa greets you with a stout cupola, long windows and a blue-and-white front, a contributing property in the Cape May Historic District, added to the National Register in 1970. Built in 1882, this 19th-century Victorian‑style structure proudly wears a stout cupola and long windows above a blue-and-white symmetrical front. A yellow-and-white-striped awning shades the porch; skylights puncture the roof; and a garden terrace waits behind the house.
Inside, the Carroll Villa offers 19 guest rooms and carries a name honoring Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In 1976 World War II veteran and Legion of Honor recipient Harry Kulkowitz opened the Mad Batter restaurant here, a notion he got while playing poker in the hotel; its name nods to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Kulkowitz purchased the hotel in 1978, later bringing back a chef after a visit to Thailand — a move that led The New York Times in 1983 to praise the Mad Batter for lychee duck and snow peas.
He completed major renovations in 1985, adding air conditioning, refurbishing antique furniture, and adding a bathroom. Notice the cupola and striped awning above, the garden terrace behind, and the Mad Batter restaurant that made this hotel famous for lychee duck.