Cape May MAC History

Cape May MAC and the Rebirth of Cape May

Cape May MAC (Museums + Arts + Culture) was founded as the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts in 1970 at a critical juncture in Cape May’s history.

In the 1960s, Cape May had become a magnet for growing numbers of historic preservationists and artists, attracted by its collection of Victorian seaside architecture. Their vision was increasingly at odds with the city government, which saw modern motel construction as the answer to Cape May’s declining number of visitors. By 1970, preservationists vowed that they would band together and fight any demolitions.

They did not have long to wait. In September, the developer-owners of the Emlen Physick Estate announced plans to bulldoze this landmark to make way for tract housing. To stop this plan, Cape May MAC’s founders took the lead in incorporating the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Their first priority, naturally, was to restore the Physick Estate. They rallied an army of volunteers, who repaired leaking roofs, sanded and painted, replaced missing windows, reglazed window panes, cleared jungle growth from the grounds, and carried out the many tasks needed to bring the Estate back from the brink. They then embarked on a thorough restoration of the main house as a Victorian house museum, a mission which has continued to the present.

From the outset, however, Cape May MAC’s founders launched programs that went far beyond restoring the Physick Estate. One of the major initiatives was to extend Cape May MAC’s interpretative reach over the entire community. In 1971, Cape May MAC started guided walking tours of Cape May’s Historic District. The following year, they purchased the trolley tour franchise of the defunct Victorian Village Development Corporation, and in 1973 began major historic house tours that opened large numbers of Cape May’s Victorian gems to the public.

Equally important, Cape May MAC’s founders launched special events that increased Cape May’s appeal to visitors and transformed the economy of the area. They broke new ground in 1973 when they held the first Victorian Weekend over the Columbus Day holiday. The following year, Cape May MAC’s first Christmas Candlelight House Tour put Cape May on the path to becoming a major Christmas destination.

As Cape May’s popularity rose in the 1980s in response to a national craze for Victoriana, so did the range and complexity of Cape May MAC’s tours and activities. From the single trolley tour route of the 1970s, a second was added in 1983 and a third in 1985. Christmas trolley tours were introduced to the holiday season, and special events were launched for February, April and May.

Cape May MAC’s next phase of growth was the “acquisition” of the Cape May Lighthouse. After three years of intensive negotiations, Cape May MAC received a long-term lease in 1986 from the State Park Service for this 1859-vintage structure. Under the lease, Cape May MAC assumed responsibility for the restoration and operation of the Lighthouse as a museum. In 1987, the ground floor was opened to the public and the following year, public safety improvements were made that allowed the public to climb to the top of the tower.

The restoration of the Cape May Lighthouse offered a new area of interpretation, involving lighthouse and maritime history and technology. It appealed to new audiences — lighthouse buffs and families with children — with the 60,000 visitors in 1988 increasing to over 110,000 by 1997. The Lighthouse also housed Cape May MAC’s first Museum Shop.

In the decades since, Cape May MAC has continued to make great strides in its efforts to extend the tourism season and offer more to see and do for Cape May’s visitors. In 1990, Cape May MAC launched the Cape May Music Festival to bring music lovers to the area during the normally “soft” weeks before the peak summer season. There has also been a continual expansion of Christmas programming, with the number of Candlelight House Tours increased from one to three, a wide variety of offerings added to the calendar, and the holiday season stretched from the weekend before Thanksgiving (Holiday Preview Weekend) to the New Year. In 1996, Cape May MAC launched a Spring Victorian Weekend, which has since grown into the Spring Celebration lasting almost four weeks.

In conjunction with local innkeepers, Cape May MAC introduced the popular Sherlock Holmes Mystery Weekends in March and November, and recently added a third weekend in October. In 1997, Cape May’s restaurant community joined forces with Cape May MAC to launch the Cape May Food and Wine Celebration in mid-September.

The Physick Estate Carriage House, after a major 1996-1997 overhaul, was converted to a multipurpose facility. The Carroll Gallery is the only gallery in the county offering an array of changing exhibits on Cape May history, while the Carriage House Museum Shop offers unique merchandise. Vintage, a modern restaurant with outdoor seating, opened in 2020.

At the Cape May Lighthouse, the 1989-1990 refurbishing of the tower windows and doors and the Oil House was followed in 1993-1994 by a $600,000 federally and state funded restoration of the lantern and repainting of the tower in its original colors. An additional $750,000 in federal/state grants led to the complete restoration of the Lighthouse structure in 1997-98, while work on the Lighthouse grounds was completed in 2000-01.

In 2004, Cape May MAC leased another landmark from the State Park Service, Fire Control No. 23, a World War II coastal artillery lookout tower near Sunset Beach. After raising $1 million for the first phase of this project, Cape May MAC carried out a thorough restoration of the tower, which opened in March 2009.

Cape May MAC has been a major force behind Cape May’s dramatic rebirth. In 2020, its 50th year, the organization changed its name to Cape May MAC (Museums + Arts + Culture) as part of a comprehensive re-branding project. For the foreseeable future, Cape May MAC stands ready to help sustain Cape May’s preservation success story as the organization launches into its next 50 years. -- By B. Michael Zuckerman, Ph.D., Director, Cape May MAC (December 1982 – February 2020).