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Experience

Cape May's

Neighborhood Preservation Program

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Who We Are

The Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP) is a 5 year grant program offered by the NJ Department of Community Affairs in order to invest in communities within a town or city. The City of Cape May was awarded this grant for â€‹the Franklin/Lafayette District. These funds will be used to support improvements in the neighborhood for residents, property owners and businesses alike within the district.


​The Franklin/Lafayette District Team was formed to provide valuable input to the City of Cape May on how to best utilize the NPP grant inside the community. Volunteers in the group serve as steering team members and focus group participants to further the success of the program. 

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Franklin/Lafayette District

Steeped in History

The Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP) Planning Area is the heart of Cape May’s civic community. As the historic home of the City’s African American neighborhood and current site of City Hall, Colonial House, Lafayette Street Park and Washington Street Commons, the Planning Area consists of 0.054 square miles. It represents the busy nexus of the City’s residential community and civic/commercial center, anchored at either end by the Acme and Washington Street Commons to the south and Lafayette Street Park to the north.

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The Lafayette Street Park and Franklin Street School are planned for major renovations in the next few years. The Harriet Tubman Museum is planned for opening in mid-2020 on the 200th anniversary of Harriet Tubman’s death. Non-profit organizations are working with the City to restore the Stephen Smith House and the Allen AME Church.

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The Franklin/Lafayette Neighborhood is brimming with activity and is an ideal setting for the State’s Neighborhood Preservation Program. This Plan will provide a strategy for uplifting this neighborhood as a result of well planned, public and private sector lead initiatives.

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Tubman Museum

Howell House was built in the 1700s. The building served as the rectory of the neighboring Macedonia Baptist Church and is being restored to create the Harriet Tubman Museum. The Tubman Museum will be visited by thousands of people annually, including school tours and senior bus trips. It is imperative that the interior improvements be high quality and protected. The NPP grant will be used to partially fund museum quality displays and infrastructure for the permanent collection of the Harriet Tubman Museum, including exhibit cases, display cases, framing, and signage to showcase the permanent collection in a manner that maintains the art, artifacts, photographs, and other display items of the Museum safe, preserved and secure.

Stephen Smith House

and the Allen AME Church

The summer home of Stephen Smith, a wealthy Philadelphia-based abolitionist and Underground Railroad operator who purchase his freedom from slavery, is being improved.  The plan is to restore this home for use for tours, as a museum or to function as a restored home. Stephen Smith was instrumental in building several AME churches including the Allen AME Church in Cape May City. The building will be used as a museum, art and culture center or similar use in the future. NPP funds will be used initially to secure the Smith House and the AME Church.  Both buildings are in dire need of roofing and siding improvements.

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Franklin Street School

Franklin Street School was built in 1927 as a segregated elementary school and used as such until 1948, when school segregation was constitutionally banned in New Jersey. Plans are to convert it to a library/community center. Funding from the New Jersey Historic Trust, the National Park Service’s African American Civil Rights Historic Preservation Fund, Cape May County Government, Cape May County Library, and the City of Cape May has been secured.

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Vision Statement

The Franklin/Lafayette Neighborhood will become a must visit destination. The African American history of the area will be a focal point with the story being told through museums and tours. The neighborhood will also be a center for education and recreation with the completion of the new library and the Lafayette Street Park. The area will be a fully enhanced gateway to Cape May City where residents and visitors can live, learn, explore and recreate.

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Contact Cape May Neighborhood Preservation Program

Address:

643 Washington Street, Cape May, NJ 08204

Email:

Phone:

609.884.9525

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