Physick Estate

Pictured Here:  Not smart enough to read.  Not strong enough to work.  Doesn't have a mind for money and finance.  Dumb and weak was the new role for women in the mid-nineteenth century.  Only twenty years before, men and women were thought of as much more alike, but during the Victorian era, women became delicate flowers that had to be protected in their parlors.  This revolution in roles provoked a reaction in the first Women's Movement.  Hear about the pure and gentle ladies and the tough and forceful women of the nineteenth century in the new Emlen Physick Estate tours for 2009, “HERstory: Women in the Victorian Era,” beginning Friday, April 24.  On a tour, you can experience the lifestyle of the Victorian era, while learning all about women’s roles during this time period in each room of the Estate.  Learn about Dr. Physick’s female servants in the servant’s hall, the separation of sexes in the dining room, the introduction of books written just for women in the library and the source of entertainment for women in the formal parlor and the music room.  Each room in the Estate holds a different and interesting slice of women’s history.  The new theme will run through November 2009.  Tours are offered year-round and can be combined with trolley tours of Cape May’s Historic District. 

PHOTO CAPTION: Women's roles and men's roles grew further apart from 1840 through the Victorian era. By the late nineteenth century, it was very unusual to see a photo of a woman doing a traditional male activity. Fencing was a traditionally male activity.  In the very late nineteenth century and (mostly) in the early twentieth century, the "new woman" (personified in the Gibson Girl) began to engage in sports. It was the reaction to the Victorian separation of the sexes.

Pictured Here: The Emlen Physick Estate, 1048 Washington St., received the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce 41st Annual Beautification Award in the landscaping, non-profit division, for its beautifully planted oval garden. The award was presented at the Chamber's annual dinner on Oct. 4, 2007. At the end of June, the oval garden was replanted by MAC's gardener, Hope Gaines, and the MAC maintenance staff. The team followed Victorian garden designs researched by MAC's Curator Elan Zingman-Leith to give the oval garden historical authenticity. Now the oval garden looks as it would have 125 years ago.