Cool Cape May 2021-22

[284] activities
HARRIET TUBMAN MUSEUM
Commemorating and celebrating the legacy of an American hero at Cape May’s newest cultural attraction
ABOUT THE MUSEUM For years, rumors
swirled in Cape May that Harriet Tubman once
worked as a cook on the island, stowing away
money for her work as a conductor on the
Underground Railroad. But longtime visitors
knew to take such stories with a grain of sand.
Then a funny thing happened. Research
confirmed that not only did Tubman spend
time in Cape May, but the town was an
epicenter of the abolitionist movement in the
northeast. To honor this legacy, the community
banded together to build a Tubman museum,
which opened in June of 2020.
With a $52,000 bounty on her head,
Tubman had good reason to keep her
movements secret, but we know that she led
over 300 people out of slavery. And she spent
the summer of 1852 working to raise money
for her operations in Cape May. That fall, she
made a clandestine trip to the Eastern Shore,
where she led nine people out of slavery.
A 1909 article from The New York Sun
claims Tubman engineered a settlement
for freed slaves in Cape May, and that she
did it the same year this rescue happened,
suggesting this group — and potentially others
— established new lives in town. In other words,
this place may have been a final stop on the
Underground Railroad.
The museum was created in a building
owned by the predominantly African American
Macedonia Baptist Church. Visitors to the
museum will engage with the work of African
American artists and artifacts from the late
Reverend Robert Davis collection, who was the
longtime minister at the Macedonia.
Emily Dempsey, the African American
owner of a local antique shop who represents
at least the fourth generation of her family
in Cape May, has also donated a first-edition
copy of William Still’s book, The Underground
Railroad: A Record, in which the author
documented the hardships relayed to him
during interviews with escaped slaves who
came through Cape May.
“It’s like a light’s been switched on in Cape
May,” Dempsey said. “I know my grandmother
had stories of Harriet Tubman, but you don’t
talk too openly about a person who had a
bounty on her head. We thought this history
was lost. Now, we’re learning about our
ancestors.”
632 LAFAYETTE STREET l CAPE MAY l harriettubmanmuseum.org