Nelson Z. Graves

Graves was named after his uncle, a minister who ran a similar school for girls in Warrenton, North Carolina.

[5] In 1911 Graves took over the Cape May Real Estate Company, a financially troubled effort to develop a resort community there.

[6] The Hotel Cape May had opened in 1908 but had not been successful enough to pay back its enormous construction cost overruns, and lots nearby were largely unsold.

[7] He founded a large farming operation called the Cape May Farmstead to provide high quality produce, eggs, and milk to the hotel and for sale.

Nelson Jr. played international cricket in his younger years and helped run the family business, but he died young of meningitis.