Lower Township Looks to Its Maritime Past to Provide for the Future

CAPE MAY — The Cape May Maritime Museum and Education Center in collaboration with the state Department of Environmental Protection Fish and Wildlife Service and Lower Township is planning to reconstruct a historically accurate replica of the former 1876 Life Saving Station at a location once known as Steamboat Landing, near Sunset Beach.
“It is an important part of our maritime history,” Kevin Maloney, president of the Maritime Museum Foundation, told Lower Township officials and residents during an update on the project at a Sept. 3 council meeting. “It is a reflection of who we are as a community and where we come from.”
The foundation’s vision is to create a museum and interpretive education center to educate the public on what it was like to serve in a Life Saving Station in the 1800s. The vision includes holding re-enactments using equipment such as surf boats, breeches-buoy lifesaving apparatus, beach cart and cannon demonstrations.
“The station is not only going be a value to the tourism industry but a gathering place for our residents,” said Maloney.
Maloney’s idea was to construct a replica of the of the 1876 Life Saving Station that was built for the Centennial Exposition held in Fairmont Park, Philadelphia in 1876. A lifesaving station in that style was built near the Cape May Point Lighthouse around 1889 but it was destroyed by a storm in 1954.
In 1915, the U.S. Life Saving Service became the United States Coast Guard.
“Not only will it enhance public access for the area, but it will enhance the natural beauty of the area and protect the dunes and the habitat in that area,” Maloney said noted that the project went through an environmental assessment and received a Coastal Areas Facilities Act, or CAFRA, permit.
The Life Saving Station project also includes a parking area, temporary restrooms, a wooden walkway and split-rail fencing.
Currently the site is being excavated and old pipes and concrete are being removed.
The goal is to have the museum ready for the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Life Saving Service’s transition to the U.S. Coast Guard next year.
Maloney said that the group is run exclusively by volunteers and money for the project is being raised by private donations, corporate partnerships and fundraisers. One such event is being held on Oct. 4. On Oct. 4 the C-View Inn is hosting a crab and beer festival, dubbed Crabapalooza, with the proceeds going to the Maritime Museum Foundation’s goal of completing the Life Saving Station.
For more information or to make a pledge, call Kevin Maloney at 609-412-1250, or email Kevin@CapeMayMaritimeMuseum.org.