Squirrels Go Nuts … For Physick Estate Christmas Lights

CAPE MAY – Soy is definitely one of the most controversial foods in the world. Depending on who one asks, it is either a wonderful superfood or a hormone disrupting poison. As with most things in nutrition, there are good arguments on both sides.
However, it seems the squirrels in Cape May have sided on the wonderful. They enjoyed eating the soy-based lubricant on thousands of LED Christmas lights strung all over the Physick Estate last year and left on the trees for this year. 
As a result, new lights had to be bought and were strung Nov. 7 in anticipation of the annual tree lighting ceremony at 7 p.m. Nov. 18.
“When Santa flips the switch, there will be new lights,” said Susan Krysiak, director of media relations, Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities (MAC), who organizes the event.
The Physick Estate, 1048 Washington St., Cape May, is an 1879 Victorian house museum with Carriage House, tea room and the Carroll Gallery, restored and maintained by MAC.
MAC is a multi-faceted non-profit organization that promotes the restoration, interpretation and cultural enrichment of greater Cape May.
With “over 15,000 lights on the property,” Chief Operating Officer Melissa Payne said it takes about two weeks to decorate the estate for the holiday season, during which they sponsor more than 20 different themed programs.
Last year, about 10 percent of MAC’s $3.4-million operating budget came from Christmas programming.
This is the 44th annual candlelight house tour, so Payne believes the tree-lighting event has taken place just as long, if not longer.
“Last year, our maintenance staff decided to replace our outside lights with LED lights because they are more efficient, more environmentally friendly and have longer lifespans,” Krysiak said. “Some of the new wiring was put underground as well. We decided to leave it up for the year, thinking it was all perfect.”
However, they soon learned it wasn’t such a good idea.
“The squirrels ate the wiring,” she said, “and when our maintenance manager looked into it, we found out the LEDs were coated with a soy-based lubricant. I guess the squirrels thought it tasted pretty good.” 
This year, the squirrels won’t be so lucky as the MAC team does not plan to leave the lights up after the holidays.
“Each year we want to add more lights and extend them further on the grounds,” added Payne, who said about 10 evergreen trees in front of the Physick home are lit.
The inside of the home is also decorated, according to Curator Gail Capehart, to reflect how it might have been decorated during the time the Physick family lived there, 1879-1916.
“Our goal is to have visitors experience the historical aspect of the house during the time the family lived there,” she said. “The doctor (Emlin Physick) lived there until he died in 1916; his mother lived there until her death in 1915, and his aunt lived there by herself until 1935. We have many objects such as china, silver, and furniture, which were actually owned by the family, in fact, on display as well.
“A lot of research” has been done, so the house reflects Christmas decorating as historically accurate as possible Capehart noted. “During the Victorian era, houses used a lot of live greenery and poinsettias,” she said.
“Because the house is a museum with tours, artificial garlands are used instead of live greens, and all 10 rooms used in the house have some Christmas decoration,” she added. A third floor is not decorated.
It takes three days to decorate the house, and that begins Nov. 15 this year. The first day involves taking everything out of storage and setting up the large Christmas tree in the formal parlor.
Capehart said the second day “is the most fun,” when volunteers and staff decorate the rest of the house.
“It’s bedlam, but it’s fun,” she said. “We play Christmas music and have a wonderful time decorating all the rooms.” The third day is to add any “finishing touches.”
Three trees are placed in the house, including one in the formal sitting room, which looks like trees from the 1870s-1880s. This table-top tree includes small lithographic photos used as ornaments and American flags with 38 stars used as a motif after the Civil War.
The giant tree in the formal parlor is typical of those from the 1900s, and includes decorations typically used today.
The Carriage House is also decorated for the Christmas holidays to reflect what youngsters might recall from their time under a Christmas tree.
With branches hanging from the ceiling holding over 600 ornaments, MAC employee Jean Barraclough and a few others spend three weeks re-assembling a scene under the branches that include 300 pieces of a Department 56 Dickens Village with 125 lit buildings and several operating trains.
Quotes from Victorian-era author Charles Dickens hang from the walls, besides photographs of MAC employees as children at Christmas.
Anyone attending the Christmas tree lighting ceremony is encouraged to donate non-perishable items for the Cape May Community Food Bank or an unwrapped new toy for Toys for Tots. Free self-guided tours of the house are available 6-8 p.m. the day of the tree lighting, Nov. 18.
More information on holiday programs sponsored by MAC can be found at https://www.capemaymac.org.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.