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CAPE MAY CONNECTIONS

Dr. Emlen Physick, Dr. Philip Syng Physick's grandson would build his "Cottage" on Washington Avenue in Cape May in 1879. It is considered by some to be one of the finest examples of Victorian "Stick Style" architecture in America. Attributed to famed Philadelphia architect Frank Furness, in the 1970's, after decades of decline, the Physick Estate and the nine outbuildings on the four-acre Cape May estate were saved and restored by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC). The opening of Physick's estate to the public as a museum would inspire the revitalization of Cape May and the preservation of its architectural heritage.

Physick Family connections to Cape May, New Jersey, began with Dr. Philip Syng Physick's great grandfather, silversmith Philip Syng Sr. Shortly after arriving in Philadelphia with his three sons, Philip Jr, John and Daniel, and wife Abigail Murdock Syng, she died. Ten years later Philip Sr. relocated to Cape May, New Jersey and married Hannah Whilden, widow of Thomas Leamyng in September of 1724. Philip Syng Sr., again a widower, on February 26, 1733-34 he married Susan, widow of a mister Price, at St. Ann's Church Annapolis, Maryland. On May 18, 1739, sixty-three year old Philip Syng Sr. died in Annapolis.

Dr. Physick's daughter Susan, and son-in-law Commodore David Conner, would later visit Cape May, New Jersey on vacations. Ten days after returning from his victory at Verra Cruze, Mexico, the Commodore and family attended a grand dinner in his honor at the Columbia House Hotel on May 6, 1847.