‘Revolutionary Cape May’ opens at Welcome Center
CAPE MAY — The rich history of Cape May can be tied to centuries of America’s past.
In a newly opened Cape May MAC (Museums + Arts + Culture) exhibit at the Welcome Center, visitors can explore the city’s ties to the nation’s fight for independence during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783).
MAC held a well-attended opening Jan. 2 of “Revolutionary Cape May,” which will be on display at the Welcome Center, 609 Lafayette St., throughout the year. Admission is free.
MAC exhibit curator Mary Stewart said the idea for the display came about while considering something special for the United States’ 250th anniversary in 2026.
“My cousin gave me a tour booklet from Cape May County from 1927, and a lot of what it talked about was the Battle of Turtle Gut and the Battle of the Delaware Bay,” Stewart said. “It talked about what the contributions of Cape May County were during the Revolutionary War.”
Stewart made it her mission to celebrate this little-known part of Cape May’s history in this exhibit. She and co-curator and exhibit designer Steven Olszewski put together a detailed exhibit, drawing on old newspapers, archives and other public records.
Exhibit focus
Visitors to the exhibit will learn about Cape May’s little-known naval role in war and the ingenuity of its citizens in battle on local waterways as they fought to forge a new nation.
Despite the fact that Cape May was remote and distant from the war on land, the island’s strategic location at the tip of the cape was home to skilled pilots. The area offered a safe shore for ships to anchor on their way to and from Philadelphia, as well as served as a lookout for the activities of the British Navy.
From privateers (privately owned ships) to the war effort, Cape May was heavily involved. Because of Cape May’s long ocean and bay coastline, it was the perfect location for salt works, which were established at Turtle Gut and Cold Spring Inlet.
“Because salt was embargoed by the British, they started salt works on the beach,” Stewart said. “We supplied salted fish to Valley Forge when [George] Washington was encamped there.”
The women of Cape May were integral to the war effort through the knitting of mittens and stockings. Olszewski said the mittens were a major export of the county, which he learned while reading a 1790s newspaper.
The routine, domestic task of spinning wool and knitting garments kept area women busy. According to Benjamin Franklin’s recollection, mittens became the fourth-largest export of Cape May County by 1758.
The exhibit features several large plaques rife with information and copies of newspapers, ads and even ledger pages showing how accounts were paid with mittens.
While no instructions for the knitted mittens have survived to the present day, Stewart knitted an example interpretation, which is framed and displayed on the exhibit wall.
Stewart hopes people will leave the exhibit with a passion for history.
MAC CEO Jody Alessandrine thanked Stewart and Olszewski for their incredible contribution to the exhibit.
“They say it takes a village, and it certainly does,” Alessandrine said, extending that thanks extended to the exhibit planning team, other MAC partners and city officials.
Mayor Zack Mullock thanked the volunteers and the partnership between MAC and the city.
Carroll Gallery preview
“We’re really excited for an incredible year of exhibits in Cape May,” Alessandrine said, adding that there will be several new exhibits coming to the Carroll Gallery at the Emlen Physick Estate.
For the first winter exhibit, MAC is partnering with the Center for the Community Arts on a theme of visitors to Cape May and an unexpected history. Featured former visitors include Booker T. Washington, Paul Robeson, Martin Luther King Jr. and Marian Anderson.
The second exhibit will be a celebration of Cape May’s 175th anniversary as an incorporated city and its 50th anniversary as a designated National Landmark City. MAC will be partnering with Cape May for this exhibit.
By RACHEL SHUBIN/Special to the Star and Wave
