Page 26 - 2025 Southern NJ Vacationer

CAPE MAY MAC
Bringing Cape May Museums, Arts & Culture to Life Today
THE IMPRESSIVE 1879 Emlen Physick Estate, recently chosen by Angi.com as the “prettiest building in New Jersey,” is widely considered the best example of Stick Style architecture in the country. The Cape May Music Festival, 36 years and going strong, is a gem of a festival featuring classical music, jazz and Americana. A fleet of shiny, comfortable trolleys crisscrosses the historic district, and is a far cry from the tractor that hauled an open-air trolley around town in the 1970s. The restored 1859 Cape May Lighthouse opened to the public in 1988 and since then more than 2.5 million people have climbed to the top. The historic World War II lookout tower, Fire Control Tower No. 23, underwent an award-winning restoration.
All this is thanks to the non-profit organization Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts +Culture) leading the way, celebrating over five decades of preservation, history and education that helped America’s oldest seaside resort reinvent itself.
The renaissance of Cape May is linked to a huge mansion on Washington Street that appeared beyond salvaging around 1970, overgrown and possibly, it was hinted, even haunted. When plans circulated that the building was going to be sold and demolished, a stalwart group of volunteers banded together determined to save – and ultimately – restore the Emlen Physick Estate. With hard work they not only saved the Physick Estate, but revitalized Cape May, forming the organization Mid-Atlantic Center for
the Arts (MAC). In 1976, the entire city was declared a National Historic Landmark, thanks to its 19th-Century buildings, one of the largest collections of seaside Victorians in the country. The resort rebloomed, an amazing change from decades earlier when Cape May’s charm had faded.
Guided tours of the 1879 Physick House Museum provide an in-depth look at Victorian architecture, detailing how the Physick family and their staff lived, worked and spent their leisure time. The 18-room mansion is an architectural gem designed by famed American architect Frank Furness. Cape May MAC hosts a variety of trolley tours, walking tours, house tours and golf cart tours around the city with knowledgeable guides who share Cape May’s history,
architecture and how it thrives today.
But Cape May MAC celebrates more than Victorian history. Each year free Carroll Gallery exhibits explore history topics of local interest, including an exhibit that highlights Black history in conjunction with Center for Community Arts. Through a decades-long partnership with the Center for Community Arts and a recent partnership with the Harriet Tubman Museum of New Jersey, visitors can also learn about the role Cape May played in the Underground Railroad and about Harriet
Tubman’s presence there.
Fast forward to December. Hundreds of
Christmas tours celebrate the season, and the Christmas Candlelight House Tour on three Saturday evenings before Christmas is a highlight, as it has been since 1974, with homes, inns, churches and hotels decorated for the holiday, including the Physick House Museum, with a very special holiday exhibit at the Carroll Gallery.
Every day throughout the year there is something to do for visitors: crafts shows, concerts, scavenger and treasure hunts, a Harvest Brew Fest, a Lessons of History lec- ture, a garden tour, cruises, murder mystery dinners, Sherlock Holmes weekends, Victorian Weekend, ghost tours, boat trips to lighthouses in Delaware Bay, tours of Fisherman’s Wharf, two museum shops, food and wine events, Halloween Happenings, a full six weeks of Christmas tours starting the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and plenty of events more popular than Queen Victoria herself. l
Cape May MAC is headquartered at 1048 Washington St., Cape May; 609-884-5404; www.capemaymac.org
24 SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY VACATIONER