Tour Marks Century since Physick’s Death

CAPE MAY – ‘Twas a grim anniversary that stirred a small gathering of the curious to 1048 Washington Street March 16. The macabre milestone was the centennial of the death of Dr. Emlen Physick Jr. whose deathbed was shown in his second-floor bedroom, and whose grand Victorian-era home was toured.
To underscore the solemnity and state of mourning, interpreter and nearly full-time volunteer at the Emlen Physick Estate Carol Hartman was garbed in a somber black dress. Hartman noted such a visible sign after the loss of a loved one would, in Victorian times, have lasted three months.
As Hartman recounted the life and times of the home’s builder and resident, she pointed out a vintage image of Physick, a physician who never practiced the medical arts. It was that young man, she noted, whose grandfather Dr. Philip Syng Physick was noted to be the “Father of American Surgery.”
It was also the photograph of the bachelor who, at age 21 in 1876, inherited from his father the tidy sum of about $8 million. Hartman noted that bequeathal was in a time before taxes would have syphoned some into government coffers, hence it was a nearly obscene amount of money.
Physick, whose 18-room home, built in 1879 designed by Architect Frank Furness, is under the care of Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities, passed from this life at age 61 on that date.
Hartman noted obituaries varied about his age and cause of death, several cited “acute indigestion,” which she said would have been an affront to Physick’s chef, to cerebral hemorrhage.
A Philadelphian by birth, Physick was a life-long bachelor who reportedly loved animals, harbored 14 dogs on his estate, and was head of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He had the city’s first automobile and, because of that, also had the dubious honor of having the first motor vehicle crash within its borders.
President of the Union National Bank of Cape May, when it failed, Physick personally paid $20,000 to its destitute depositors. A golfer, Physick donated land on Lafayette Street for the Cape May Golf Club. He was also a member of the Corinthian Yacht Club and was owner of much land in South Jersey. He was also a member of Philadelphia’s Union League.
Hartman guided the group into Physick’s Victorian “man cave,” a billiard room where, she imagined, fine cigars were smoked while ruminating on local, state and national matters as balls were whacked in side pockets.
The dining room, bedecked in elegance of a bygone age, would have no diners for that evening’s repast. The first-floor music room, resplendent with a harp, piano and Victrola was similarly silent, seemingly hushed by the elegantly-carved mantel.
In Physick’s library were ancient manuscripts bound in thick colorful covers whose titles are stamped in gold leaf. Among those were “Gold and Gilt,” “Commonsense About Women,” “Freaks on the Fells” and “The Christian Legacy.” How many of those did Physick’s eye peruse on long winter nights lit by a coal-oil lamp?
Finally, the tour convened in the grand parlor, the home’s showplace. There, Hartman opined; it was likely Physick reposed as only invited mourners passed his casket to pay their final respects.
Physick was buried in Cold Spring Presbyterian Cemetery, Lower Township a century ago.
In the mansion’s front yard, clusters of brilliant yellow daisies blew in the breeze of a spring-like day, as if awaiting the glance of the land’s late owner Dr. Emlen Physick.