Photographs by Macy Zhelyazkova

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January: Feeling Small

February: Evening Breeze

March: Lined Up and Ready To Go

April: Path to Happiness

May: Watching the Whale Watcher

June: Highest Tide of the Year

July: Driftwood Sculptures at Higbee Beach

August: Afterglow

September: Final Catch

October: Home Before Dark

November: Homage to Thanksgiving on Washington Street

December: Christmas Eve Morning

Favorite Overall: Painted Sky

May 16 opening of World War  II Lookout Tower. Fire Control Tower No. 23 was part of the immense Harbor Defense of the Delaware system known as Fort Miles.  Built in 1942, the tower was one of fifteen concrete lookout towers that helped aim batteries of coastal artillery.  With the Tower restored, visitors can climb to the sixth floor observation platform at the top and see equipment used to determine firing coordinates for massive guns on both sides of the Delaware Bay.

May 12 West Cape May Installation of Officers. Election winners and family members are ( l-r)  Mayor Pam Kaithern’s  daughters Kaleigh and Emaleigh, husband Chip  and Mayor Kaithern at center.  Incumbent Commissioner Peter and newly elected Commissioner Ramsey Geyer at right.

June 9 Strawberry Festival

Cape May’s 4th of July Parade

August 5 Queen Maysea crowning. Queen Maysea LXXVII is Bridget Elizabeth Martin (at top). The coronation was presided over by Mary Stewart, director of Outreach for the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts.  Mayor Ed Mahaney presented the crown and assorted tiaras. Pictured below Queen Maysea are Madison Shiffbauer, Elise Heim.

August 27 400th Play. In honor of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s “discovery” of Cape May, the East Lynne Theater Company mounted a one-night only production written and starring the Right Honorable Judge Sir Frank Visser, aka, “The Driving Judge.” The Netherlands’ version of Judge Judy came to Cape May to perform in his play the People of Cape May v. Johan Van Buren under the direction of ELTC Artistic Director Gayle Stahlhuth.

August 28: Italian Birders Win 400th Car “Contest.” These birding visitors from a town outside of Venice must have thought they were being arrested when the Cape May police pulled them over as they crossed the bridge at Schellenger’s Landing. But no,  according to the boy scouts who kept count at 7 a.m. August 28, they were driving the 400th car to cross into Cape May and in honor of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s “discovery” of Cape May as his sail boat, the Half Moon, got stuck in a sand barge.

October 10 Lima Bean Fest

October 26 Halloween Parade

October 31 Cape May Lighthouse celebrates 150th anniversary.Visitors, veterans and dignitaries gathered at the base of the 150-foot Cape May Lighthouse to celebrate its 150th anniversary and its third known configuration. The first known Cape May lighthouse was commissioned in 1822. Twenty-four years later, however, erosion threatened its very existence and a new lighthouse to be built on higher ground was commissioned in 1847. However, its construction and inferior equipment necessitated a new one be built in 1857.

November 7 naming of the Cape May Veteran’s Memorial Bridge. Veterans, dignitaries and members of the U.S. Coast Guard assembled under the Lower Township Bridge to rededicate the bridge. Forty nine years ago on November 5, 1960 this bridge in Lower Township over the Cape May Canal at the end of the Garden State Parkway was dedicated without a name. Members of the 400th Committee (formed to coordinate events celebrating the 1609 discovery by Henry Hudson of what came to be known as Cape May) were behind the effort to name the bridge – a victim of political in-fighting 49 years ago.

Mid-November Nor’Easter. A powerful Nor’easter sent heavy winds and rain to Cape May and much of the East Coast.

November 15: West Cape May  celebrates its 125th anniversary. Longtime residents and friends gathered at the West Cape May Fire Hall to celebrate the borough’s 125 year anniversary.

44th Annual West Cape May Christmas Parade

Well it’s time of the year again. We want you to pick your favorite CapeMay.com Picture of the Day for 2009. Look back over the Picture of the Day for each month in 2009 and tell us which one you liked the best. Then pick your favorite Photo of the Year. We’ll tally up the votes and show you all the winners next month. And don’t forget, all the winning photographs are available for sale.

January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

Voting is open now through January 25th. One vote per person, please. Please jot down either the date the photo appeared OR the title of the picture.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.
And Mama in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

Stroll with us through the town of Cape May all dressed up in her holiday finest.

Around the Town

When out on the roof there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
tore open the shutter, and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
gave the lustre of midday to objects below,
when, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

And how would St. Nicholas find us here in Victorian Cape May unless we dressed out houses with greenery, and cheery red bows? But never fear, as night falls the a twinkling of the lights on the houses provide a perfect landing spot for the miniature sleigh and its eight tiny reindeer.

Christmas Reflections

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles, his coursers they came,
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name:

“Now Dasher! Now Dancer!
Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid!
On, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch!
To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away!
Dash away all!”

At Christmas time all the shopkeepers in town adorn their windows with Christmas finery in the hopes of seeing shoppers, friends and relations stop by for some h0liday cheer on Hospitality Night.

Christmas Twilight on the Mall

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky
so up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
with the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
the prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head and was turning around,
down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

A full moon, the stars and the decorative lights on the Washington Street Mall are sure to light the way for Santa’s sleigh.  What’s that you say, “Only a first quarter moon Christmas Eve?” No matter, Santa will find his way.

Cookie Exchange

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack

The whole community looks forward to the Great American Cookie Excvhange held search December by the Center for Community Arts at the Cape May City Elementary School. Kids and parents bring cookies, helpers make cookies in the school kitchen, other kids learn how to make cookies. And all the cookies are displayed on big tables filled with cookies of all kinds, all shapes, all sizes. At the other end of the auditorium, more helpers sew away, busy making colorful Christmas hats to wear throughout the holiday season. And right above the sewing helpers is Santa himself, listening to each young child’s Christmas list.

Designer Show House

His eyes–how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

Even the most sophisticated of holiday revelers adorn their homes for the season. This year’s Designer Show House was the Carpenter Cottage at 511 Franklin Street. It was originally one of two lots sold by the Corgie family to Aaron and Elizabeth Garretson in 1853. The house was thought to have been built shortly thereafter. The newly renovated house is now owned by Susan Carpenter Priester and her family and will be open to the public through the New Year weekend.

Physick Estate Tree Lighting

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
and I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

Each year friends and visitors alike gather at the Emlen Physick Estate (operated by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Art – MAC) for the tree lighting, a visit from Santa Claus, and a tour of the 1879 estate. Surely is one has any chance at all at spotting St. Nick on Christmas Eve, this is the place one would perch.

Physick Estate Christmas

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

No one knew how to do Christmas like the Victorians – after all, they had Charles Dickens, among others,  to guide them. Americans added their special touches – like store bought ornaments and our special thanks to the very imaginative Clement C. Moore for writing Twas the Night Before Christmas. The Physick Estate is bustling with activity at holiday time.

Rotary Park Tree Lighting

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Clement C. Moore - Twas the Night Before Christmas

William J. Moore

“People back in those days, they looked out for each other, and it seemed like everybody had a dog and chickens too! Our teachers were dedicated. They were with kids after school. We were taught to play music, sing, dance. We did it all! The Grant Street area was where you had segregated beaches, but I’m to understand that it was the best down on the beachfront.”

Clara Harris
Resident
West Cape May, NJ

“I’ve lived in West Cape May for 70 out of my 76 years. One of the most special teachers growing up, and you’ve probably heard this from many of the West Cape May African Americans, was William J. Moore. He taught black history; today they take pride in teaching black history in one month–then he used to teach it all the time. One of my closest  friends growing up was Ralph Bakeley. He and I would walk to school hand in hand, bicycle to bicycle, then we got to the schools and separated. We didn’t pay any attention to it because that’s the way it was.”

Jim Washington
Resident
West Cape May, NJ

The Eldredge House

Sunday, November 15 (6-9 p.m.) longtime residents and friends will gather at the West Cape May Fire Hall to celebrate the borough’s 125 year anniversary. The History Committee, comprised of two ladies, Marie Iaconangelo and Doris Jacobsen, have been cataloging pictures which are currently on display at Borough Hall. The exhibition, “Picturing the Past” was the committee’s first major project. Another major project the ladies have undertaken, along with the help of filmographer and executive director of the Cape May Film Society, Tom Sims and his team of young filmmakers, is to interview and record the reminiscences of members West Cape May’s most distinguished families. A DVD of the video interviews will be available and an abbreviated version will be shown at the celebration.

Back in the 1800s when the Borough was first formed, West Cape May was home to all the folk who serviced the seashore resort of Cape May – the milkman, the vegetable huckster, maids, butlers and there was a corner store on every corner. The Borough was also home to a canning factory, a gold beater industry and sulky racetrack. But by and large West Cape May was a farming community which reincorporated three times – 1884, 1890, and 1894, when the Borough of South Cape May was added on. No one seems to quite know why, except to suspect that money was to be gained from each reorganization. The first postmaster was Horace Swain.

West Cape May had an elementary school for Afro-American children and right next door a school for white children. Lifelong residents remember walking to school together, separating to go to their respective schools, and walking home after school without ever thinking a think about it.

Take a walk through the picture gallery gathered by West Cape May’s History Committee and look for more stories about West Cape May on CapeMay.com and in Cape May Magazine. And if you have any stories or photos you would like to share send them to info@capemay.com.

Black and white photos and captions courtesy the History Committee of West Cape May. Current photographs by Macy Zheylazkova and Bernie Haas.

See pictures from West Cape May’s anniversary party

No need for tears, because Autumn’s Movement will bring new spring life before you know it, but delight in these photographs and all the beauty that fall brings to our Island.

Photographs by Macy Zhelyazkova.

Because we live by the sea, Cape May is often slow to shake off winter and welcome spring, but once the changes begin, they are well worth the wait. Photographs by Macy Zhelyazkova.

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