Also recognized as a trail site is the nearby Macedonia Baptist Church, a short walk from the school and now home to the Harriet Tubman Museum of New Jersey. Across the street from the museum is the Smith house. Stephen Smith, the owner, was the richest black man in the United States at that time, and this was his summer home.

For Black History Month, the Emlen Physick Estate’s Carroll Gallery is hosting “Black Legacy of Historic Cape May: Unexpected History,” an exhibit highlighting Black residents, leaders and visitors.

“The town hosted influential figures such as Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Martin Luther King Jr., leaving a legacy of culture, activism, and resilience,” Cape May Mac said in a press release. The exhibit runs through April 12.

Additionally, on Feb. 16, the Black Legacy in Historic Cape May Trolley Tour will offer guided storytelling across town. The Center for Community Arts is offering a self-guided African American Heritage Walking Tour with 10 stops, approximately 90 minutes.

Visitors can also learn about the roughly 70 Black-owned businesses, which were part of the once-thriving network of Black entrepreneurship and homeownership, Mullock said. She said the Lafayette Street corridor, especially the intersection of Lafayette and Franklin streets known as Freedom’s Corner, served as a hub of Black community life and activism during the late 1800s, and now offers visitors a tangible connection to Cape May’s Black history.

Visitors can also eat at Freda’s Cafe, one of the last Black-owned brick-and-mortar restaurants in Cape May. The restaurant has become a community fixture, offering scratch-made dishes.

“As someone born and raised right here in Cape, I can tell you this little seaside town is more than just beaches and Victorian houses,” said Quanette Vasser-McNeal, the community outreach director for Cape May County and president of the Cape May County Chapter of the NAACP. “Cape May has one of the oldest African-American communities in the country. From the early days of the resort, Black workers built hotels, cooked in kitchens and created businesses that helped Cape May come alive.”