Scarborough Inn

Scarborough Inn Rated #1 hotel of all 533 on the Jersey Shore by TripAdvisor users. Historic charm, modern design, architect-owned, operated by life-long yearround locals

The #1 hotel in OCNJ. TripAdvisor’s words, not ours. Founded in 1895, Scarborough Inn is the oldest hotel in town. Recently renovated, the inn combines Guilded Age charm with modern convenience. Located in the heart of the Downtown Historic District, park in our lot and then walk to the beach, the shops on Asbury Avenue, the boardwalk, the rides, and enjoy an evening stroll taking in all the neighborhood’s Victorian architecture. This is your home by the sea on New Jersey’s storied barrier islands. www.scarboroughinn.com

Back to work.(For the record, our breakfast plating is usually less stabby).Also some more staff photos that didn’t make...
09/08/2026

Back to work.

(For the record, our breakfast plating is usually less stabby).

Also some more staff photos that didn’t make yesterday’s 20-pic limit.

Labor Day is over. Locals’ Summer isn’t. Come back to OCNJ this weekend when you’re done being thrown through the back-to-work wringer.

As the sun goes down on Labor Day, I find myself thinking less about the end of summer and more about the people who hav...
09/08/2026

As the sun goes down on Labor Day, I find myself thinking less about the end of summer and more about the people who have gotten me through it. Not just this summer. All of them.

I’ve never really thought of Scarborough as a job.

For me, it has always been a small, stubborn war against the idea that everything has to become standardized, optimized, replicated and eventually franchised.

I wanted to make a peculiar place. A place tied specifically to where I am. Ocean City. South Jersey. These tenuous little towns clinging to ephemeral barrier islands. A place with history and quirks and enough accumulated weirdness that nobody could pick it up, move it to another state and call it the same thing.

An experiment that isn’t scalable. An inn that couldn’t be franchised.

And these are some of the faces who have joined me in that battle, knowingly or not.

Some of you have been with me nearly from the beginning. Some of you come and go with the seasons. Some of you left as lifelong friends. Others left as strangers.

But every one of you affected me.
..continued in comments.

The fall 2026 issue of Stef and Bill Godfrey’s Ocean City magazine is out. Turn to page 26. You’ll find a two-page piece...
09/03/2026

The fall 2026 issue of Stef and Bill Godfrey’s Ocean City magazine is out. Turn to page 26. You’ll find a two-page piece written by a curmudgeonly innkeeper about why fall is OCNJ’s best season.

9 out of 10 locals agree.

The crowds thin out. The ocean is still warm. You have time to sit on your neighbor’s porch. The town feels a little more like the community it was founded to be.

I went way over my word count. Brevity is the domain of more disciplined writers. Stef was gracious in her editing. She managed to keep all my favorite weird parts. Thank you, Stef.

I settled into my hammock office and thumbed through the rest of the issue, which turns out to be making the same argument.

My very OCNJ horoscope (Libra, btw) advises: “As schedules grow busier, don’t forget to take time for yourself. A quiet walk along the beach may provide the reset you need.”

Stef’s editor’s letter opens with: “Some people treat Labor Day like a finish line. We know better.”

No lies detected.

There’s also a great piece on Chop, filling a badly needed salad void in Ocean City’s otherwise heroic commitment to pizza, fries, ice cream and fudge. All of which I support wholeheartedly.

Amy Mahon has maple cinnamon blondies, because yes, it’s that time of year. But don’t let me catch you calling it pumpkin spice.

And buried in these pages is Gone Native’s T-shirt with Ben Franklin surfing. This may be the most Jerseydelphia thing possible that doesn’t directly involve sports, scrapple or pork roll.

That’s what we love about this magazine. It isn’t generically “the Shore.” It’s Ocean City. Our porches, our food, our peeps, our random habits, and our collective understanding that Labor Day is not remotely the end of anything.

Game recognize game.Sometimes my ankle monitor gives me enough range to get off island. This time I made it all the way ...
08/31/2026

Game recognize game.

Sometimes my ankle monitor gives me enough range to get off island. This time I made it all the way to Absecon Island, Steel Pier. Naturally, pink things found me.

It only took us 131 years, but Scarborough finally got her Friends of OCNJ History & Culture born-on plaque.These plaque...
08/25/2026

It only took us 131 years, but Scarborough finally got her Friends of OCNJ History & Culture born-on plaque.

These plaques serve a useful purpose. They put a historical context on the buildings we casually walk past every day. They remind passersby that these old pieces of architecture aren’t just background noise. They’re fundamental pieces of the Ocean City we inherited from the stewards before us. They’re the narrative thread that gives grandparents and grandkids overlapping OCNJ memories.

But 1895 is just a number. So here’s another way to put one and a third centuries into perspective:

What do Jell-O, Hershey bars, teenagers, PB&Js, teddy bears, empathy, Crayola crayons, parenting, banana splits, Mother’s Day, extroverts, Oreos, T-shirts and Kleenex all have in common?

Scarborough Inn has been part of Ocean City and Earth longer than all of them.

Jell-O (1897)
Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar (1900)
PB&J (first known recipe, 1901)
Teddy bear (1902)
Crayola crayons (1903)
Banana split (1904)
Mother’s Day (modern observance, 1908)
Oreo (1912)
T-shirt (modern form, 1913; name first recorded, 1920)
Kleenex (1924)

And these things certainly existed. We just didn’t have these words for them yet:

empathy (coined 1909)
teenager (coined 1913)
parenting (coined 1918)
extrovert (coined 1918)

Scarborough Inn (1895)

“What are we gonna leave for the young?”

I’m going to leave an inn built for the Victorian Age but painted for the W***y Wonka Age.

On Friday, we told you all of us at Scarborough Inn were Team Athena.Turns out we chose wisely.Athena Staros wrapped up ...
08/24/2026

On Friday, we told you all of us at Scarborough Inn were Team Athena.

Turns out we chose wisely.

Athena Staros wrapped up the Rip Curl GromSearch weekend in Ocean City with a 1st-place finish in Girls U16 and 3rd in U14.

Yes, she won the older division.

Not a bad weekend for our second-year Scarborough guest from Huntington Beach. Congratulations to Athena, and to her mom, Anna, who logged a pretty serious weekend on the beach herself.

After two summers with us, I think it’s official: Athena and Anna have been inducted into the Scarborough Illuminati.

Team Athena, indeed.

08/24/2026

Monday…

Normally, we always root for the local groms. But today, all of us at Scarborough Inn are Team Athena.Athena Staros and ...
08/22/2026

Normally, we always root for the local groms. But today, all of us at Scarborough Inn are Team Athena.

Athena Staros and her mom, Anna, are back at Scarborough Inn for their second year, making the trip east from Huntington Beach, California for the Rip Curl GromSearch North America, presented by Flexfit.

And Athena came east with a pretty ridiculous résumé.

At the NSSA Southwest season finale at Huntington Beach Pier in May, she entered three divisions and won all three: Explorer Women, Open Girls U16, and Explorer Super Girls U12. A rare trifecta.

This morning in Ocean City, Athena won her U14 heat and moves on to the next round tomorrow. Later today, she gets back in the water for the U16 round.

She’s got a busy docket this weekend. We’re very happy to have Athena and Anna back with us for year two.

Go Athena.

Address

720 Ocean Avenue
Ocean City, NJ
08226

Telephone

+16093991558

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Scarborough Inn posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Hotel

Send a message to Scarborough Inn:

Shortcuts

Share

Category