CHRISTMAS IN CAPE MAY
What better place to get into the true spirit of Christmas than Victorian Cape May? This seaside town is transformed into a Dickens village for the holidays with garlands of fragrant greens and twinkling gaslights. Wrap yourself in the warmth of holiday spirit and sample a variety of fun tours and events.
CHRISTMAS CANDLELIGHT HOUSE TOURS
Cape May MAC launched its first Christmas tour in 1974 and ever since this tour has been a beloved annual tradition and a highlight of the holiday season in America’s only National Historic Landmark City. This self-guided walking tour celebrates the best of Cape May at Christmas, as you travel Cape May’s gaslit streets, hear musicians and carolers, and visit homes, inns, B&Bs, churches and hotels where you’ll step inside to see both Victorian and more modern interiors beautifully decorated for the holidays. Don’t miss Cape May’s longest running and most popular Christmas tour.
PHYSICK FAMILY CHRISTMAS HOUSE TOUR
Take this guided living history tour of the magnificent 1879 Physick Estate, Cape May’s only Victorian house museum, decorated in authentic Victorian style for Christmas. Your guide portrays a member of the Physick family in the early 1900s and shares stories and traditions. The tour also includes a visit to the Carroll Gallery to see “An Old-fashioned Christmas” exhibit, a popular annual display featuring a huge Christmas tree, model trains, and an elaborate Dept. 56 Dickens village collection.
ALL THAT GLITTERS TROLLEY TOUR
Victorians ring in a new century!
It’s the Christmas season in the late Victorian age and Mrs. Frances Brooks leads this first-person trolley tour as she does her important holiday shopping around town, regaling all with then and now stories of the many shops, hotels, landmarks and personalities that make up the lively Cape Island social landscape of her time. This tour immerses you in Cape May social history and takes two steps back in time, as Mrs. Brooks reflects on her present and her past, including memories of her dearest friends, the Physicks.
LAMPLIGHTER CHRISTMAS TOUR
See inside a selection of Cape May bed & breakfast inns and private homes, specially decorated for the holidays on this self-guided evening walking tour that includes a visit to An Old-fashioned Christmas Exhibit in the Carroll Gallery at the Physick Estate Carriage House.
Learn More
Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture), as a nonprofit cultural organization dedicated to the preservation, interpretation and cultural enrichment of the greater Cape May region for its residents and visitors, proudly joins the chorus of voices decrying racism, prejudice, discrimination and injustice, in all its forms, in every corner of our nation. As the steward of three historic sites and the storyteller of more than 200 years of area history, Cape May MAC is well aware that, “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” We will continue to strive to serve a broad and diverse community, to illuminate all the threads with which the fabric of history is written, seek out all voices, and include and encourage full participation.