Cape May, NJ 
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Henry Hudson and his crew, sailing aboard the Half Moon on a trip financed by the Dutch East India Company, are recorded as the first European explorers to see the shore line in what would one day be called Cape May, although Hudson and his men did not set foot on the land at that time. The year was 1609. It was the Dutch explorer Captain Cornelius Mei who led three ships around the Cape in 1623 and christened the area Cape Mei (anglicized to Cape May), but Mei and company also chose not to land. Whalers coming down the coast from New England eventually began farming in the Cape May area to supplement their needs between whaling seasons, and it was these settlers who replaced the Kechemeches, a sub-tribe of the Lenni-Lenapes who fished and dug mollusks in the area until about 1735 when they disappeared from the Cape May area because of the influx of the Europeans. In 1790 Philadelphia's population numbered 42,000 people, making it the largest city in America. People began coming to the Cape May area seeking relief from the summer heat and humidity in the late 18th century. Cape May was known as Cape Island during the 17th century, and it became the City of Cape May officially in 1869. In 1878 a disastrous fire destroyed many prominent hotels, and the rebuilding that followed was done in the Victorian style preserved to the present day, resulting in Cape May, New Jersey being designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976, America's Bicentennial Year. The "boardwalk" along the beach fronting the ocean in Cape May, New Jersey isn't made of "boards" because it's a raised paved promenade running for approximately 1.5 miles long offering great views for visitors along Beach Drive. There are shops, arcades, and places to eat on the ocean side of the promenade, but most of the walkway is devoted to an unobstructed view of the Atlantic in all the seasons of the year, and taking a stroll and stopping now and then to sit on a bench and watch the waves is a therapy that's free but absolutely priceless.