Cape May Celebrates the Enduring Legacy of Historic Allen AME Church

Issue #813

September 18, 2026

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In This Cape May Local Scoop Issue…

 📆 Cape May Events

☀️ Cape May Local Weather 

 🦅 Cape May Celebrates the Enduring Legacy of Historic Allen AME Church

 🚒Atlantic City’s Historic Steel Pier Hits Market for $85 Million

🎡Cape May County Residents, Visitors Urged to Learn Their Evacuation Zone

Cape May Local Scoop’s Events Are Sponsored By: Survivors of Cancer

👇 Here’s what’s going on in the Cape May Local Area👇

 September 18

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Cape May Celebrates the Enduring Legacy of Historic Allen AME Church

A historic Cape May church that served generations of African American residents will be celebrated Saturday with an afternoon devoted to faith, history, art and community.

“Allen AME: Our Stories, Our Space, Our Legacy” will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Clemans Theater for the Arts at the historic Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church, 717 Franklin St.

Presented by the Allen AME Legacy Committee of East Lynne Theater Company, the event will bring together former church members, descendants, historians, artists, educators and community leaders to recognize Allen AME Church’s role in Cape May and preserve its history for future generations.

For more than 150 years, Allen AME has been associated with faith, fellowship and community life in Cape May. The church was an important spiritual, educational and cultural center for the city’s African American community.

Saturday’s program will examine that history while also recognizing a new chapter for the building as the home of East Lynne Theater Company.

Rev. Dr. Mark Kelly Tyler, Historiographer and Executive Director of Research and Scholarship of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a former pastor of Philadelphia’s historic Mother Bethel AME Church, will deliver the keynote address. His presentation will explore the history and continuing legacy of the AME Church.

The afternoon will also include a panel discussion, “Faith, Learning & Belonging,” featuring community members reflecting on the church’s influence and the connections among faith, education and a sense of belonging.

Visitors will also be able to view photographs, artwork and archival materials documenting Allen AME Church and the broader history of Cape May’s African American community. Light refreshments and community fellowship will follow the formal program.

The historic church faced an uncertain future following a devastating fire in 2018. Preservation advocates and community leaders subsequently worked to save the building, which was restored and transformed into the Clemans Theater for the Arts.

East Lynne Theater Company now calls the building home and has partnered with the City of Cape May in preserving the property and recognizing the history of the congregation that worshipped there. The theater company has committed to continuing that work through educational programs, community collaborations and other initiatives focused on the site’s Black history.

The Allen AME Legacy Committee was established by East Lynne Theater Company in 2025 specifically to preserve, expand and share the history of the church and its influence on Cape May. Its membership includes people with personal and family connections to the congregation as well as historians, educators, artists and community advocates.

Committee members include co-chairs Pamela Harris-Young and Janis Washington White, along with Ken Bose, Pip Campbell, Emily Dempsey, Leland Edgecombe, Chanelle René, Lynda Towns, Henry Wise and Becki Vance Wilson.

Funding for the program is provided through the Cape May County Board of County Commissioners and the Cape May County Division of Culture & Heritage, a partner of the New Jersey State Historical Commission. Cape May businesses Collier’s Liquor Store and Swain’s Hardware are corporate sponsors.

Although Saturday’s event looks back at the generations connected to Allen AME Church, its focus also extends to the future: preserving their stories as the historic Franklin Street building begins its next chapter as a gathering place for arts, culture and community.

Atlantic City’s Historic Steel Pier Hits Market for $85 Million

One of the Jersey Shore’s most recognizable landmarks is officially on the market.

Steel Pier, the historic amusement pier that has extended into the Atlantic Ocean from the Atlantic City Boardwalk for more than a century, has been listed for $85 million.

The approximately five-acre oceanfront property sits directly across the Boardwalk from Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. The offering includes the operating amusement property, a helipad, extensive riparian rights and previous approvals for a condo-hotel and entertainment development.

Luxury real estate brokerage SERHANT. has been selected to market the property, putting a landmark synonymous with generations of Atlantic City tourism in front of potential hospitality, entertainment and development buyers.

The pier currently measures approximately 150 feet wide and 965 feet long. Its unusual development potential, however, stretches much farther into the ocean.

At the Boardwalk end of the property is an approximately 40,000-square-foot building that includes the pier’s skybridge and roof areas. The skybridge provides a connection toward the neighboring Hard Rock property, with an easement involving its convention area.

The property also carries prior approvals dating to 2008 for a condo-hotel entertainment complex. Current zoning supports hotel, entertainment and commercial uses, creating the possibility that a buyer could continue operating an amusement destination, pursue redevelopment or combine multiple uses.

The pier was constructed in 1897 and opened in 1898, initially centered around theater and entertainment. It expanded dramatically during the decades that followed, eventually earning national recognition as the “Showplace of the Nation.”

At its height, Steel Pier stretched nearly 2,300 feet into the Atlantic and became one of the country’s best-known entertainment destinations.

Its stages hosted major performers, including John Philip Sousa and a young Frank Sinatra. For a period during the 1930s, the pier was also associated with the Miss America competition.

Perhaps no attraction became more closely associated with old Steel Pier than its famous diving horses, in which horse and rider plunged from a platform into a pool. The story of diving-horse rider Sonora Webster Carver later inspired the 1991 film “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken.”

The pier has also appeared in movies and television productions over the years.

Its history has included fires, storms, changing ownership and Atlantic City’s repeated economic transformations. A major fire in 1969 destroyed a portion of the structure, and the pier eventually became considerably shorter than it had been during its peak years.

In the late 1980s, Steel Pier came under the ownership of Trump Entertainment Resorts in connection with the neighboring Trump Taj Mahal casino property. The Catanoso family, which had already been involved with operating attractions on the pier, purchased Steel Pier in 2011 for $4.25 million.

Under the family’s ownership, substantial improvements were made to the property, including renovations to the front building and skybridge, construction of office space and upgrades to electrical, plumbing, lighting, fencing and other infrastructure.

The pier has continued operating as a traditional Jersey Shore amusement destination with rides, games, food, entertainment and special events. Its modern attractions include roller coasters, waterfront venues and the towering observation wheel that has become a prominent feature of Atlantic City’s skyline.

Now, after decades of Catanoso family involvement, the landmark is being offered to a new owner.

The $85 million listing places particular emphasis on Steel Pier’s combination of history and redevelopment potential. Unlike a conventional Boardwalk property, its riparian rights provide the possibility of constructing significantly farther over the Atlantic.

For generations of visitors, Steel Pier has been part amusement park, part entertainment venue and part symbol of Atlantic City itself. More than 125 years after its opening, the landmark could soon be headed toward another chapter.

Cape May County Residents, Visitors Urged to Learn Their Evacuation Zone

Cape May County has launched a “Know Your Zone” hurricane evacuation program that divides the county into four zones, A through D, based on vulnerability to storm surge, coastal flooding and other hazards. Oceanfront and barrier-island communities are concentrated in Zone A, while inland Woodbine and surrounding areas make up Zone D. County emergency officials are urging residents, visitors and property owners to look up their zone before a storm, identify a safe destination outside the threatened area and prepare transportation, medications, documents and plans for pets. Officials caution that public shelters may have limited availability and emphasize that evacuation orders will depend on the conditions of each storm.

What happened to the Mount Vernon Hotel in Cape May, which was intended to be the largest hotel in the world during its construction in the 19th century?

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 Answer to the September 17th Trivia Question 

Cape May is recognized as one of the oldest seaside resorts in the United States. When did it begin to attract vacationers from Philadelphia?

A) Late 17th century
B) Mid-18th century
C) Early 19th century
D) Mid-19th century

Answer: B) Mid-18th century

Cape May began hosting vacationers from Philadelphia in the mid-18th century, making it one of the country's oldest seaside resort destinations​.

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