Sea Isle Historical Society Celebrates an Old-Fashioned Christmas

Members of the Sea Isle City Historical Society gathered for the annual Christmas Open House. By Donald Wittkowski Long before smartphones, laptops and virtual reality became all the rage, children would wake up on Christmas morning and find simple toys waiting for them under the tree. Pin the tail on the donkey, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and Tiddlywinks were among the old-fashioned games that would amuse girls and boys in those days. Some of those vintage toys and games were on display Saturday during the annual Sea Isle City Historical Society and Museum’s Christmas Open House, serving as a reminder of just how uncomplicated holidays used to be for most families. “Everybody gets a kick out of that toy because you actually had to have a real potato to play with it in the beginning,” Mike McHale, president of the Historical Society, said with a laugh while pointing to an early version of a Mrs. Potato Head game. Mary Stearne, 79, who has lived at the same house at 34^th Street and the Promenade since 1950, characterized Sea Isle as a special place for families year-round, but especially during Christmas and other holidays. “It’s a family town. All of these people here, I’ve known them since I was a little girl,” she said of the Historical Society’s members. An old-fashioned baby cradle was decorated for the holidays. The museum occupies a wing of the Cape May County Library at 4800 Central Ave. A Christmas tree, toy soldiers and poinsettia plants were among the holiday decorations adorning the museum and the library on Saturday. During the open house, members of the Historical Society swapped some of their favorite stories, reminisced about the past and also talked of how Sea Isle has evolved into the bustling summer vacation retreat that it is today. Mike Stafford, 87, a former Historical Society president who has chronicled Sea Isle’s history in six books, said visitors were still arriving in horse and carriage – along with cars and trains – when he first came to the island as a child in the 1930s. “Sea Isle back then was like Strathmere is today,” he said, recalling the town’s pre-building-boom days. Stafford’s family began spending summers in Sea Isle in 1917, while World War I was still raging. Stafford was born in 1929 at the old Strand rooming house owned by his grandmother, Mary “Molly” Cassidy. Mike Stafford, center, a former president of the Historical Society, talks with other members. “My first memory of Sea Isle is when I was standing on the Boardwalk, looking out on the ocean when the waves were coming in,” he said. The Boardwalk was destroyed by the infamous 1962 nor’easter that devastated the Jersey Shore. The paved Promenade, the city’s popular oceanfront walkway, was built to replace the Boardwalk. Stafford witnessed both the ’62 storm and the monstrous 1944 hurricane that obliterated large swaths of the seashore. He recalled the town being swamped by flood waters in both storms. He saw entire buildings collapse, including the old Baltimore Sisters of Mercy Convent at 60^th Street and the beach. Sea Isle went through a rebuilding surge after each storm. Dramatic growth occurred again during the town’s more recent transformation into a summer vacation destination crowded with large, upscale homes. Stafford said Sea Isle has undergone “unbelievable” change. However, he believes it still retains its small-town charms, particularly during the quiet, off-season months and around the holidays. “I don’t think Sea Isle will ever go away. It will stay forever,” he said.