There are lots of anniversaries this year!
It is documented that Henry Hudson sailed on a voyage financed by the Dutch East India Company to discover a water passage through North America to the East Indies. His explorations on the yacht Half Moon took him to a coast of an unexplored, uncharted cape. On August 28, 1609 a violent thunderstorm caused him to anchor off the coast of Cape May overnight. News of the discovery reached the Dutch, English and the Spanish empire. Soon other explorers sailed to the region. Cape May is named for another Dutchman Captain Cornelius Jacobsen Mey who visited the area between 1616 and 1624, surveying the Delaware Bay for the New Netherlands Company on the ship Blijde Boodschap (“Joyful Message”) from which he carried on trade with the Indians here in 1620.
That being said – In 1959 the Board of Chosen Freeholders were celebrating the 350th Anniversary of our discovery.
(You may recall that throughout 2009 there were events going on in the City of Cape May to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of our discovery. I served on the 400th Anniversary Executive Committee who planned celebratory events including the Half Moon Gala Ball on February 15 at Congress Hall and culminating to the anniversary date August 28 with a reception at the Chalfonte Hotel with honored guests from the Netherlands.)
This year we celebrate the 325th Anniversary of the formal creation of Cape May County. On November 12, 1692 Cape May County was formally created by an act of the General Assembly of the Province of West Jersey. It was among the four counties officially created with their boundaries defined – Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Cape May. Here is my happy birthday Cape May County video in this regard: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B69_qoK9Kk1pbkxoeXUyRTBmdHc/view
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
