RECENT HAPPENINGS Late Fall/Holiday Wrap-Up

The brief window between Halloween Happenings and the Holiday Season is a perfect time to host Cape May MAC’s Annual Meeting. On Nov. 10, it was held at the beautiful Cape May Winery. It’s a wonderful place to welcome members, recap the past year and announce the candidates for Cape May MAC’s Board of Trustees for 2023.

It’s always a harbinger of the holiday season when our Maintenance Department staff begin building the platform for the Christmas tree in the Carroll Gallery. This is serious work. Once the platform is in place, it takes David Barraclough nearly three weeks to build, light and decorate the tree, arrange the Dept. 56 Dickens Village at its base and run the HO model train through the display. We’ve never counted but there are hundreds of pieces to that village, each one meticulously placed by hand and then each building lighted from underneath. Thankfully David’s mom, Jean Barraclough, is on hand to render her able assistance. Once the tree is completed, we move on to the walls and windows, making sure Christmas is completely installed. We’re grateful to Bob Hudzik for creating new frames for our Dickens’ Christmas Carol panels and all the staff who contribute their vintage Christmas photos to create such an immersive experience for our visitors.

Curator Ben Ridings and Registrar Donna Szemcsak organized a small army of helpers to transform the Physick House for the holidays. It’s not an easy job — boxes must be hauled down from the attic and up from the cellar. There’s garland to fluff and drape, trees to trim and holiday touches to set in place all over the house. If the Physick House dining room looks extra special, we can thank several of our veteran interpreters. Carol Hartman and Barbara Lamont purchased the supplies and created a new holiday centerpiece for the family table. If it seems extra bright in the dining room, it’s because Kathleen Familetti and Barbara Lamont were kind enough to polish the silver. We cannot thank them and our other

Newsletter

Published by Cape May MAC, a not-for-profit corporation P.O. Box 340, Cape May, NJ 08204 • Phone: 609-884-5404 New Jersey Relay Center for TTY Customers: 800-852-7899 Web Site: www.capemaymac.org • E-Mail: info@capemaymac.org

Editor: Jody Alessandrine • Assistant Editor: Jean Barraclough

Contributors: Sandra Adams, Sara Kornacki, Susan Krysiak, Anna Marie Leeper, Evelyn Maguire and Mary E. Stewart

OUR MISSION

Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) is a multifaceted not-for-profit organization committed to promoting the preservation, interpretation, and cultural enrichment of the Cape May region for its residents and visitors. ---- v ----

OUR VISION

Preserving Cape May’s rich heritage and assuring its vitality through superior cultural programs and events volunteers enough for their generosity, care, and hard work. It all pays off, as thousands of visitors tour the house during the holiday season and ooh and ahh over the authentic decorations.

After three weeks of busy preparations, it was time for Holiday Preview Weekend. An Old-Fashioned Christmas Exhibit in the Carrol Gallery was officially opened, the Carriage House Museum Shop was fully stocked with great gift ideas (including our newly published “Dr. Physick’s Night before Christmas” written by our curator Ben Ridings and illustrated by Steven Olszewski) and the huge cedar tree on the back lawn was ready for Santa to flip the switch. To make the event truly festive, we recruited the Atlantic Brass Band to provide holiday favorites, welcoming our guest of honor with a rousing “Here Comes Santa Claus.” At the crack of 7pm, Santa made his way to the outdoor stage, threw the switch and our holiday programming was underway. As always, we used the event to collect food and donations for the Cape May Community Food Closet, installed a Christmas tree in the Carroll Gallery to raise funds for Coast Guard recruits and participated in the Toys for Tots Campaign.

You can see from the Director’s Column

Learn more — in person or by Zoom! Lunch & Learns now include More About Music

Meet other curious learners and expand your knowledge for free during Cape May MAC Lunch & Learns including More About Music talks — informative and illustrated presentations on popular topics of history, culture and the arts. Lunch & Learn programs are offered both live at the Cape May Lutheran Church Hall, 509 Pittsburgh Ave., and by Zoom. Bring lunch and beverage if you like! The hall is accessible and free parking is available. No registration is needed if you plan to attend in person. If you wish to view the program via Zoom, please preregister for individual programs by clicking on the links in the calendar at right. (When you register, a link to the Zoom meeting will be emailed to you.) Questions? Call 609884-5404.

Carroll Gallery Exhibit

“Quackery: The Age of Questionable Medical Marvels”

Opens April 14: Step right up! See this exhibit of some of the so-called medical marvels of the late 19th and early 20th century. Many of these “curatives” were not just ineffective, they were downright dangerous. Learn about the societal and economic forces that unleashed these questionable treatments on the public, driven by hucksterism, false advertising and get-rich-quick schemes. Check out Prof. Hudzik’s Medicine Wagon—a replica of what would have been used to purvey such cure-alls, complete with a QR code to hear what his schpiel would have sounded like! Free admission.

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LUNCH & LEARN: WHY DOES MODERN ART LOOK SO WEIRD?

Feb. 15 at 12pm: For over 500 years, artists strove to paint images as realistically as possible, but around the turn of the 20th century, that all changed. We will explore the reasons for that sudden shift, especially the influence of a new technology of the time: photography. Presenter: Dr. John Curtis. Cape May Lutheran Church, 509 Pittsburgh Ave. Bring a bag lunch and beverage. Or watch online via Zoom. To register for the online Zoom, click here to pre-register.

LUNCH & LEARN: YES, NICE VICTORIAN WOMEN DID USE THAT 4-LETTER WORD: MATH

March 1 at 12pm: Celebrate Women’s History Month and hear about the mostly unknown and sometimes scandalous lives of three female Victorian mathematicians, plus an overview of why historically there have been so few women in the field of math. Presenter: Dr. Donna Szemcsak. Cape May Lutheran Church, 509 Pittsburgh Ave. Bring a bag lunch and beverage. To register for the online Zoom, click here to pre-register.

LUNCH & LEARN: THE IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION

March 15 at 12pm: Learn about how immigration has affected the United States - and South Jersey in particular - since the late 1800’s. Presenter: Ted Bryan. Cape May Lutheran Church, 509 Pittsburgh Ave. Bring a bag lunch and beverage. To register for the online Zoom, click here to pre-register.

BRUNCH & BINGO AT BELLA VIDA

Saturdays, Feb. 25, March 18, 25 at 9am: Laugh along with your friends as you play a little bingo, compete for prizes and enjoy a fashion show by Lace Silhouettes/Cotton Company. It’s all over a scrumptious breakfast at Bella Vida Garden Cafe. $25. Click here to purchase tickets.

Forgotten Sports History Trolley Tour

Saturdays, Feb. 25, March 25 at 11:45am and April 1 at 11:30am: Cape May’s history includes some fascinating stories about sports, such as baseball, tennis and golf, during the 19th and early 20th century. Take this trolley tour around Cape May and see where audiences once cheered on their favorite players of yesteryear. Learn about the teams, ballfields, courts and greens that were a vibrant part of America’s First Seaside Resort. Click here to purchase tickets.