45th Anniversary Commemorative Book November 2015 | Page 23

Watson & Henry Associates vacant and vandalized, and (currently) Bob Russell of on eight overgrown acres) HMR Architects. announced plans to bulldoze From the outset, this landmark to make way for however, MAC’s founders tract housing. To forestall this started programs that went far disaster, MAC’s founders (Fred beyond restoring the Physick Kuhner, Bruce and Corinne Estate. One of their major Minnix, and Carolyn Pitts) initiatives was to extend took the lead in incorporating MAC’s interpretative net the Mid-Atlantic Center for over the entire community. the Arts. By the very name In 1971, they started offering they chose, they signaled that guided walking tours of Cape saving the Physick Estate was May’s Historic District. The but a first step to achieving a following year, they purchased very broad mission. the trolley tour franchise of Their efforts to raise the the defunct Victorian Village $90,000 purchase price for the Development Corporation Physick Estate inadvertently led MAC’s founders into a The Physick Estate, after 45 years of MAC’s TLC (tender loving care). (a for-profit entity started in the mid-1960s, whose assets pitched battle with City Hall. also included an inventory of Federal funding was the Victorian furniture that was likeliest source, but the HUD grants written by MAC’s founders had to be funneled through placed in the empty Physick House). And in 1973, they began the municipal government. To the shock and fury of the new major historic house tours that opened large numbers of Cape organization, the city administration turned down the federal May’s Victorian gems to the public. Equally important, MAC’s founders launched special grant, citing its opposition to the loss of tax ratables. Not to be denied, MAC’s leaders mounted a political events that served a variety of purposes. They first focused on revolution to achieve their goals. Running on a platform of fund-raisers at the Physick Estate, starting with a Halloween quality of life and historic preservation, Bruce Minnix led a “Haunted House” in October 1970 and a Victorian Fair on the reform ticket to victory in the November 1972 elections. His grounds in the spring of 1971. They broke truly new ground first actions as mayor in 1973 were to accept the HUD grant, in 1973, when they held the first Victorian Weekend over the purchase the Physick Estate for the City of Cape May and Columbus Day holiday. As it grew in popularity, this October immediately lease it to MAC for its restoration and operation event became a powerful magnet stretching the Cape May tourism season beyond the traditional ten weeks of summer. as a public cultural facility. Minnix’s four years in office, crowned by the entire city’s They continued this trend the following year, when MAC’s first being declared a National Historic landmark in 1976, proved Christmas Candlelight House Tour put Cape May on the path of to be a turning point in Cape May’s history. During his tenure, becoming a major Christmas destination. That same year (1974), MAC’s founders added a crucial the slogan “our future is in our past” became the official policy of city government. Although Minnix was defeated for re- marketing tool to their budding organizational structure. Filling election in 1976, this commitment to historic preservation has a void, they launched the publication of “This Week In Cape May” (TWICM). Supported in full by advertisers and distributed been carried on by every successive administration. At the same time that they were waging these political free throughout the community, TWICM has become the battles, MAC’s founders were busy laying the organization’s “bible” for generations of Cape May visitors. TWICM’s success foundations. Their first priority, naturally, was to restore helped propel MAC into its role as a principal marketer of Cape the Physick Estate. They rallied an army of volunteers, May’s many attractions and happenings. who repaired leaking roofs, sanded and painted, reglazed ADOLESCENT PHASE (1981-87) missing windows, cleared jungle growth from the grounds, After a decade of spectacular growth and creativity, MAC and carried out the myriad other labors needed to bring the Estate back from the brink. A fierce internal debate ensued found itself at a crossroads as it entered the 1980s. Like a over how the facility would be used, with one faction urging typical teenager, it faced some confusion as it experimented that the main house be converted into artists’ studios and with options and experienced a variety of growing pains. apartments and another advocatin