Around this time of year, Annie Salvatore usually prepares to greet an an influx of summertime visitors eager to learn how to cook 19th century style, build a corn husk doll from scratch, or learn the timeless trades of blacksmith or pottery throughout the living history museum that she and her family assembled themselves 47 years ago.
Instead, nearly two months after the site of the Historic Cold Spring Village closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, she has found herself trapped in “a quagmire of indecision” that boils down to this question:
Will the museum village be able to reopen at all?
Salvatore, the executive director of the Historic Cold Spring Village and a 2019 inductee into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, has been forced to temporarily lay off two of her eight staff members. In the summertime, when the historic site is visited by more than double the 20,000 patrons it receives throughout the fall, winter, and spring, Salvatore typically hires between 18 to 20 people to perform hands-on activities in the 18th and 19th buildings sprawled throughout the grounds.
“We’re in a quandary. We’re caught. We don’t have directions to where to go next," Salvatore said. “If the governor allows sites to open, how are we going to make it happen? There’s got to be social distancing, and we can’t have people go in buildings, because some of our buildings are ten by ten square feet.”
Beyond the difficulty of abiding by social distancing regulations once the museum village is allowed to reopen, Salvatore is struggling to receive enough funds to maintain the grounds during its indefinite closure.
In the wake of the cancelation of the museum village’s largest fundraiser, originally scheduled to take place on May 5, the Historic Cold Spring Village has been relying almost solely on revenue made from the village’s Cold Spring Brewery, which has been offering curbside pick-up throughout the pandemic.
But, income from the brewery continues to severely dwindle, Salvatore stating that the establishment is currently only providing service on Saturdays and Sundays because it lacks the traffic to remain open the rest of the week.
“Very few people are comfortable going out, other than for food shopping,” Salvatore said.
In an effort to increase funds and rescue the museum village, Salvatore is requesting online donations from the public, as well as reopening the Cold Spring Grange Restaurant located in the village this weekend for take-out options.
Still, she emphasized that the fate of the museum village is dependent upon further reopening guidance from Gov. Phil Murphy — and when exactly that will come.
“The next weeks will determine the future of Historic Cold Spring Village,” Salvatore said.
The Red Mill in April 2020.Scott Faytok | For NJ Advance Media
Over 100 miles North of Cape May, the Red Mill Museum Village, a Clinton-based institution with a history stretching back to the early 19th century, is not currently in jeopardy of closing, but is awaiting a reopening that promises to be “difficult,” according to Executive Director Paul Muir.
The museum has had to endure substantial economic losses as a result of the pandemic, most notably — like the Historic Cold Spring Village — the cancelation of its single largest day fundraiser, the Red Mill Derby, which regularly raises approximately $30,000 for the site. Last year alone, the event drew over 200 people to the museum for a day of live music, catered food and refreshments, and, of course, a televised viewing of the Kentucky Derby.
The museum was also forced to cancel the entirety of its school tour season, scheduled to kick off April 2 and continue through to the end of June, which regularly draws over 4,000 children to the grounds.
“There’s sadness and disappointment to lose that opportunity, because that’s really what we’re about," Muir said. "And of course there’s a significant financial loss by not offering those tours.”
Although the Red Mill intends to release new digital content like virtual walking tours on its Facebook and YouTube pages, these losses, as well as the the museum’s continued closure, has resulted in groundskeepers, tour guides, workshop leaders and welcome center staff members being furloughed.
Still, Muir expressed his happiness that core employees, including the curator of collections and curator of finance, were able to be kept on staff.
“To take away the ability to do something that they love is something we don’t ever want to do at the Red Mill," Muir said. "So this is going to be difficult, but we have a commitment to our employees, not only for the financial stability but for the mission and passion for them — that they can still pursue what they love to do.”
In an effort to compensate for its losses, the Red Mill Museum Village has established a sustaining donor opportunity, for which individuals can donate $1,000 to the Red Mill Museum Village in exchange for membership benefits including unlimited museum admission, guest passes and tickets to an event of their choosing.
“We’re looking for businesses and some of our sponsors of events from last year to come on as sustaining mission-based sponsors, to help us deliver our mission — albeit digitally at this point,” Muir said.
Individuals can also support the museum by making direction donations or by registering for a number of other membership options.
Stating that the mission of the Red Mill is to “serve the community,” Muir expressed his frustration that the pandemic has limited the village’s ability to do so for a number of months, and for an unknown amount of time beyond.
Still, he remained optimistic that those who understand the value of the Red Mill Museum Village will continue to support it.
“We always look for opportunity, and we look for the silver lining, so something like creating the sustaining donor now and implementing it because of coronavirus is hopefully of benefit to us in the future," Muir said. “We want to be there for the community as much as we can, and then, if the community is able to, they can help support us so we can continue to do that.”
Even museums separate from the lands of New Jersey are not immune to the financial impact of the coronavirus outbreak sweeping across them. The Battleship New Jersey Museum & Memorial, an 887-foot long, 45,000-ton ship that navigated the waters of World War II, Korean War, and the Vietnam War prior to dropping its anchor in Camden in 2001, has furloughed two-thirds of its 88 staff members since closing in mid-March.
The Battleship has been closed since mid-March.Courtesy — The Battleship New Jersey Museum & Memorial
After receiving a loan of $250,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a Small Business Administration initiative designed to help businesses keep their workforce employed during the coronavirus pandemic, Phil Rowan, CEO of the battleship, confirmed that the museum has rehired six full-time employees and increased the hours of three others from 32 to 40 a week.
These employees include security guards, repair workers and maintenance staff that work to keep the battleship fully functional even as it remains closed to the public.
“We will bring back more once the ‘all clear’ is given by the State of New Jersey,” Rowan said.
To further compensate the museum’s losses, Rowan is also seeking approvalfor a $2 million loan through the Economic Industry Disaster Loan Advance program, which provides economic relief to small businesses that are suffering financially as a result of the pandemic.
Throughout its closure, the battleship has reduced costs by shutting down exhibits and lights, turning down the heat and discontinuing its working relationship with vendors, including its regular housekeeping agency, trash collectors and audio tour device suppliers.
“The ship is moth-balled,” Rowan said.
While stating that the museum will reopen once the state deems it safe, Jack Willard, director of marketing, group and event sales for the museum, said that it will initially offer general admission tours to “limit and spread out tour guests and prevent crowds.
“We will not be able to offer group tours, special events and overnights when we first re-open. We will bring back these programs once it’s deemed safe for larger groups to congregate,” Willard said.
All visitors will need to wear face masks, and essential staff will provide masks to any individuals arriving without them.
While the battleship is not currently in danger of sinking financially, the museum is seeking donations of any amount and encouraging its supporters to purchase battleship merchandise to strengthen its capacity to remain afloat.
Soaring above the depths of the seas, a New Jersey museum created to educate patrons about what can be achieved in the skies is dually enduring extreme financial cutbacks due to the pandemic.
The Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum of New Jersey in Teterboro was established in 1972 to highlight the state’s centuries-long contribution to the development of human flight, as well as demonstrate the career potential in commercial or military aviation, aerospace engineering or aerospace.
Exterior view of the museumCourtesy — Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum of New Jersey
According to Ralph Villecca, executive director of the 10,000 square foot establishment, the museum has already temporarily laid off two of its three staff members — the third being Villeca.
Similar to actions taken at both the Red Mill Museum Village and the Historic Cold Spring Village, the layoffs were partially the consequence of the museum having to cancel its largest fundraiser of the year — the Wings & Wheels Expo, a two-day village and and military aircraft and car show originally scheduled for this June.
The museum has also sacrificed revenues from eliminating its six annual Open Cockpit Weekends, in which visitors can sit in the cockpit of historic aircrafts and “get the feel of flying.” Villecca said he will likely need to cancel a third cockpit weekend scheduled for June.
“It’s very complicated and very, very, very frustrating," Villecca said. "It’s putting a significant strain financially on our institution.”
Just like the battleship administrators, Villecca has received a loan from the Paycheck Protection Program to cover salaries and utilities. But — unlike a battleship that requires approximately $10,000 to maintain each day — the museum cannot put the funds to use for typical daily operations while it is closed.
“I don’t know how (the loan) technically works for a museum, because technically we’re not open," Villecca said. “It’s not like I can bring employees back and start working."
To save costs, Villecca said that the museum, currently unoccupied, has shut off its heat and other utilities. He added that he intends to draft a fundraising letter to share with the friends and patrons of the museum, which he has thus far been “quite reticent” to do in his awareness that he alone is not facing economic strains brought upon by the pandemic.
“In all candor, I know a lot of folks are hurting from this," Villecca said. “I’m okay, but I know there are many people that are not in this situation and are not okay.”
Despite its financial difficulties, Villecca stated with certainty that the doors of the museum are not in danger of permanently closing.
“If we had to be closed for a year — I’m just projecting an incredibly worst case scenario — yeah, that could impact our volubility," Villecca said. "But if it’s for a few more months, we’re going to be hurting — hurting significantly — but we’re going to survive.”
As he looked forward to the state’s reemergence from the crisis, Villecca, a former employee in the aerospace industry who described himself as “one of those nutty guys that used to jump out of planes,” expressed his profound desire to re-establish a semblance of normalcy in a workplace that doubles as his "home away from home.”
“We feel a sense of loss that we’re not doing what we normally do, advancing all of the things that we believe in and that we love about the museum, about aviation, about educating young people and all the wonderful careers they can have in space,” Villecca said.
“Our nights at the museum, our summer programs, our school tours — that’s all just stopped. And it’s a void for all of us.”
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Caroline Fassett may be reached at cfassett@njadvancemedia.com.
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