Over the years, Joanie and Bill Mahon, the new owners of Ashling Cottage, have loved staying at bed and breakfast locations, from San Diego to Cape May. We enjoyed the warmth, hospitality and just plain down-home feeling that we would receive at these inns. When we saw the Ashling Cottage Bed and Breakfast in Spring Lake, we knew we had found something very special. Built in 1877 with materials from the Philadelphia Bicentennial agricultural exhibit at the Bi-Centennial Exposition, its history is evident in its Victorian architecture. James Hulett, a prominent Philadelphia architect, designed and built the cottage and eight similar structures in Spring Lake in the 1870s and 1880s. Three of the nine original buildings, including Ashling Cottage, are residential buildings in Spring Lake today. The inn is conveniently located just one block from one of the finest beaches and boardwalks on the Jersey Shore.