Sea Isle Historical Museum Offers Something Old and New

By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Not everything is old at the Sea Isle City Historical Museum these days. After a two-month winter hiatus, the museum reopened March 2 and now includes some new touches to give visitors a greater understanding and appreciation of the beach town’s rich history. Noting the appeal of having new attractions, Joyce Molter is planning to have a series of rotating centerpiece or secondary exhibits to keep the museum fresh for visitors. “We’re just going to try to change things so people will see something different each time they come here,” said Molter, the museum’s new president. Molter and the museum’s former president, Abby Powell, cleaned up the storage room and reorganized the exhibit areas when the building was closed to the public in January and February during the traditionally slow off-season. As they step through the doors now, visitors will immediately see a new exhibit chronicling the colossal Ash Wednesday storm that devastated Sea Isle and other large swaths of the Jersey Shore on March 6-8, 1962. “285 Sea Isle Homes Destroyed by Storm” blares the front page headline in an old newspaper article that included a black-and-white aerial photo of the widespread destruction on the island. A new exhibit on the devastating 1962 Ash Wednesday storm greets visitors at the front of the museum. Parts of the museum are devoted to the monstrous 1944 hurricane that also obliterated large parts of the shore. Molter hopes to capitalize on the public’s interest in storms by creating the new exhibit on the 1962 nor’easter. “I decided this would be my opening thing,” Molter explained of the 1962 storm exhibit that she and Powell designed. With great fanfare during its holiday open house on Dec. 3, the museum formally dedicated a beautifully hand-carved wooden merry-go-round horse that was saved from the rubble of Marconi’s Carousel, one of the many local buildings destroyed in the 1962 storm. Ann Bacon, whose family owned the horse for 60 years, donated it to the museum. The carousel horse now serves as one of the museum’s chief new attractions. For many museum visitors, they will see the carousel horse for the first time when they stop in this year. The quaint museum is tucked inside the first floor of the Sea Isle branch of the Cape May County Library building at 48th Street and Central Avenue. Admission is free, although donations are accepted. It is a repository for thousands of artifacts and keepsakes, some of them predating Sea Isle’s founding in 1882 by visionary real estate magnate Charles K. Landis. The museum’s centerpiece exhibit showcases more than 20 vintage wedding gowns, the oldest dating to 1880. Preserved in pristine condition, the gowns were worn by Sea Isle brides. The museum's centerpiece exhibit features a display of vintage wedding gowns worn by local brides. Research material inside the museum includes thousands of photographs, maps, books, pamphlets, and personal remembrances, plus collections on specialized subjects such as the history of Sea Isle’s railroads, which played a critical role in the development of the city. Some of the artifacts on display from the 19th century include a 2-foot-high school bell, a baby’s wooden cradle crib, and an old firefighter’s helmet. One display features military uniforms and other memorabilia from different wars in a tribute to local servicemen and women. Molter is planning to move part of the military exhibit, including a mannequin wearing an Army uniform from World War II, to the front of the museum to showcase it to the public as one of the new displays. The military exhibit is planned for May to coincide with the commemoration of Memorial Day and will take the place of the 1962 storm display. As it prepares for the summer tourism season, the museum is also planning to resume its popular scavenger hunts for children that run from May 1 to Labor Day. Children are given a list of artifacts to find in the museum and are awarded prizes when they do. Molter noted that not only are the scavenger hunts fun for children, but they are also a way to draw more parents to the museum. Joyce Molter stands next to the museum's military exhibit, which will be displayed more prominently in May to commemorate Memorial Day. The museum continues to feel the effects of the pandemic. It was closed for most of 2020 during the height of the pandemic, then briefly reopened in September before shutting down again in October 2020 during a resurgence in COVID-19 nationwide. It reopened in February 2021 and has been welcoming visitors ever since other than the two-month closure this year. Molter said that some of the museum’s older volunteers decided not to return during the pandemic, creating a staff shortage. She is looking for new volunteers who are willing to spend 2½ hours per week helping out. No special skills are needed. “We’re always looking for volunteers and new people,” Molter said. Showing just how valuable volunteers can be, one of them is going to update the museum’s website to make it livelier and more inviting, Molter said. “The idea is to keep things fresh,” she said of the importance of offering new attractions to the museum’s visitors. More information on the Sea Isle City Historical Museum, including the operating hours, is available by visiting www.seaislemuseum.com or calling (609) 263-2992. A carousel horse saved from the 1962 storm is one of the museum's newest artifacts.