Pacific Avenue Gets Interpretive History Panels

Preserving the Wildwoods: A Community Alliance (PTW) partnered with the City of Wildwood’s Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP), the New Jersey Historical Commission, and the Cape May County’s Division of Cultural & Heritage to create panels that showcase the history of the Wildwoods and historic sites in windows on Pacific Avenue, focusing on vacant storefronts. Eight panels depicting historic buildings in Wildwood’s Neighborhood Preservation Program district are displayed at the corner of Montgomery and Pacific Avenues, the heart of the district. More will be displayed in the coming weeks, including one at the Wildwood Historical Society’s George F. Boyer Museum.

Eight interpretive panels show then-and-now scenes of buildings along Wildwood’s Pacific Avenue. The panels (left) transform a previously unused storefront (right) into a teachable moment. Left to right: Pary Tell, Elizabeth Appleyard Buckley, Pete Byron, Mary Lou Wilson, Taylor Henry, and Gail Hayman Cohen. Photos courtesy of Preserving the Wildwoods. 

All panels can be viewed from the sidewalk at any time. The panels depict now-and-then photos along with written history of buildings in the NPP district, which stretches from Taylor to Oak Avenues and from New Jersey to Pacific Avenues. There are ten panels this year, with plans to produce more in future years.

Preserving the Wildwoods: A Community Alliance hopes to continue and expand this project. If any property owner or business is interested in partnering with PTW to create a display for their building, contact PTW at preservingthewildwoods@gmail.com.

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