All in the Family

The family-run Swain’s Hardware has been a centerpiece of Cape May—a heartbeat of the community—for more than a century. In the age of ordering online or getting lost in cavernous big box stores, old-fashioned, hometown helpfulness has made Swain’s Hardware an enduring hub of the Cape May community for 122 years. If the store goes dark in storms, Swain’s stays open, and helps customers by flashlight. Now in its fourth generation of family ownership, the Swain family is in its 11th generation of living on the Jersey Cape.

Family historian Robert Duncan Swain has been researching the local Swain origins for many years. He learned that the saga of the Swain’s Hardware family began during the founding years of our country.   

Richard (Swayne) Swain [1595–1682] sailed from Berkshire, England into the Puritan stronghold, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1635 aboard the ship Truelove, apparently in a quest for religious freedom. Fourteen years later, Swain faced persecution in the New World. He was accused of sheltering Quakers, was subsequently fined, and named in a warrant. Associates of his were whipped and imprisoned; two were hanged. Swain, seeking safety for his family, learned of an isolated island for sale 30 miles from the mainland. This island called Nantucket was sparsely populated by Native Americans and a few English newcomers. Swain joined in negotiations and became one of nine original purchasers of the island. They bought the 45-square-mile outpost from Englishman Thomas Mayhew for “30 pounds of silver and two beaver hats.” Several of Swain’s descendants became sea captains and whalers.    

Richard Swain Jr. [1660–1708] joined a crew of whalers who followed their prey by boat from Nantucket down the East Coast, all the way to the tip of New Jersey. They found abundant hunting at the mouth of Delaware Bay. The bay waters were calmer, the winds more predictable, and, from high dunes, they could spot whales sending up spouts miles away in the ocean. Like many other of these daring, skillful hunters, Richard Swain Jr. eventually used whaling profits to buy land in Cape May County, according to records, “in about 1706.” The area he settled was called Swaintown, and was later named Erma.           

 Charles A. Swain [1863–1936] the first of the Swain’s Hardware owners, was a tinsmith and operated a sheet metal and tin roofing business in the same block where the sprawling Swain’s Hardware is currently located at 305–307 Jackson Street. “He was a handsome, dapper young man,” says his grandson Robert Swain, the historian. “He caught the eye of a beautiful young woman who had accompanied a family vacationing in Cape May.” She was Margaret Porte [1859–1951], an immigrant from Ireland who was working as a governess. She cared for the children of John Reyburn, who served in the Pennsylvania legislature and U.S. Congress, and later became Mayor of Philadelphia. Margaret and Charles Swain met in church. Their Cape May romance eventually led to marriage in 1891.

Five years later, in 1896, Swain’s Hardware was founded. Terri Swain, fourth generation and current owner of the store, delights in relating that it was her great-grandmother whose vision and savings established the first store. “The men get the credit,” says Terri, “but it was Margaret who put away a nest egg as a nanny and had the resources to set up the store on the porch of her home.” She sold a small inventory of household and carpenter essentials: tubs and buckets, brooms and ladders, nails and hammers. “She had a bell on the door,” says Terri, “to alert her when a customer came calling. The arrangement allowed her to run back and forth, the store to the house, while caring for her four children at the same time. She was inventive and had a mind of her own,” says Terri. “When she was prepared to leave Ireland with her brother and sail to Philadelphia, she did not tell her father until the night before she left.”

Margaret Swain’s hardware shop was very successful. In five years, the corner lot was purchased for the building of a larger store, which also served as the headquarters for the roofing business. The Swains were dedicated to service and savvy about advertising. In summer, they erected a tent on the beach, listing on the canvas the Swain’s Hardware phone number and services. In 1910, when a rear addition of the store and a house for the family were added to the complex, they took out full page ads. One features lemonade sets, an Acorn stove for $29 and a rug for 75 cents that “would make a nice Christmas present.”

Charles “Nick” Swain Jr. [1903–2003], the only son and the second owner of the store, attended Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh. He was known as Nick in honor of his grandfather, Nicholas T. Swain, a Civil War soldier whose photo, musket, and sword are displayed in a large frame on the store’s history wall. “My dad Nick started out as a roofer,” says Robert Swain, “but he had a bad fall working on the tin roof at St. Mary-by-the-Sea at Cape May Point. He was severely injured, had surgery at Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia and recovered in a body cast, flat on his stomach, for three months at home.” Unable to climb ladders and lift sheets of tin, he took over the retail hardware store in 1926.

In the early 1940s, Nick and his wife Florence “Floss” Bennett Swain [1908–2007] operated a second store, a five and dime on Washington Street. Both stores flourished in the post-World War II years. The Swains retired from the five and dime in 1962 when Nick was president of Kiwanis International, traveling around the world, establishing Kiwanis clubs in Europe and Japan. Nick had gifted the local Kiwanis with a clubhouse in 1939. He purchased an abandoned 1891 lifesaving station from the Coast Guard for $120. The building was moved from Pittsburgh and Beach Avenues to its current location at 1041 Beach Avenue.

Floss grew up at Cape May Point near the lighthouse. “When my mom was a girl, she carried supper up the 199 steps to the lighthouse keeper,” says Robert Swain. “Grandfather George Bohm was in the U.S. Lifesaving Service before the Coast Guard was established. He patrolled the beach on foot, looking and listening for emergencies at sea. I have a tintype photo of him walking the beach in his slicker, his faithful dog by his side.”

Floss Swain is remembered as a precise taskmaster. “She was tough on the all-male help at the hardware store,” says Terri. “The guys complained, and Nick and Floss exchanged stores. Nick took over management of the hardware and Floss ran the five and dime with all female employees.”

Terri Swain says she started cleaning shelves for a quarter under her grandmother Floss’ watchful eye when she was eight years old. “Her instructions were to move every bottle, every can, every box—dust each one, clean the shelf, and put the items back exactly as they were lined up. My brother Nick, named for my grandfather, was her favorite. Nick got by dusting over the tops, moving quickly to get out and play. Floss was tougher on me. She checked my work with a white glove.”

Charles A. “Bud” Swain III [1930–2018] took over management of the store in 1956. He decided the predominant contractor customer pool was too limited. He expanded the store’s inventory and services to a broader clientele to include interior and exterior needs for the home, and tools and supplies for do-it-yourselfers and gardeners. He told The Wall Street Journal in a 1998 feature story that his annual sales went from $32,000 in 1956 to one million in 1984. As sales continued to grow under Bud’s management, so did the physical store. There were major renovation and expansion projects in 1974 and 1984.  

The Swain family grew as well. Bud married Reda Nell Dorrough in 1958. They parented five children: Rick, Nick, Terri, Scott, and Melissa. They divorced in 1978. Bud married Eivor Watson of the Merion Inn family in 1985. Eivor passed away in 2006. Bud and Pat Milligan were married in 2009. “It is a large and blended family,” says Terri, “with the triumphs, tragedies, challenges and benefits that happen in multiple generations of an extended family.”

Terri says she began learning about keeping books and tracking inventory at the age of 12 at the arm of her grandfather Nick Swain. After graduating from high school, she grew weary of small town life and left for New York City with the goal of becoming a Broadway dancer. She didn’t make it on Broadway, but excelled in her studies, graduating from NYU in 1984 with a degree in public accounting, and offers from several large firms. She worked as a CPA in New York for a decade, visiting Cape May frequently. In 1994 Bud Swain told Terri, then a financial analyst with the Colgate-Palmolive Corporation, that he was considering retirement due to poor health.

At the time, Terri was commuting from Cape May to New York almost daily. She was helping install computer technology at the store and assisting her stepsister Vicki Watson, who was overseeing the Merion Inn after the death of her father. Terri decided to return home and manage the hardware store with her brother Rick.

Rick Swain has spent most of his life at the family store. “I stocked shelves when I was eight,” he says. “Even younger, I climbed on a stool and tried to run the cash register. About the time I started school, I’d stand by the front door of the store. I couldn’t wait to greet customers, and say, ‘Hi, can I help you?’

After more than 50 years at Swain’s, he is still frequently up front, greeting customers with a smile and, “What can I do for you today?” He can help pick a paint color, cut a window shade, fix a screen, grind a key, and give advice on anything from varnish remover to an outdoor grill.  “I have always liked people, and I like to fix problems,” says Rick.

The store celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1996 with a big all-day community party. The ’90s were a time of transitions. Orders, inventory and billing were transferred to computer. Big box stores opened with new competition only a few miles away. Swain’s readjusted its inventory to remain relevant to its established customer base and to attract new second-home owners and vacationers in need of household and beach supplies and equipment. And, Terri Swain began negotiating with her father to purchase the store that her great-grandmother had started on a side porch a century ago. Terri became the fourth-generation owner on Valentine’s Day, 2000.    

In 2004, Terri happened to be on the register one summer’s day when an obviously sea-faring man came in asking for fly paper, a sticky strip that catches insects. He had been sailing on the Chesapeake when there was a shift in the wind, and he changed his destination to anchor at Cape May. Terri and the sailor, Glenn McBrearty, were mutually attracted and had some friends in common, who helped arrange their first date watching the 4th of July fireworks on a sailboat.

On the front page of the July 3, 2008, Star and Wave, there’s a photo of Terri and Glenn and a headline “Terri Swain Takes Oath of Office.” Following family tradition, Terri had been involved in civic life, but she was the first Swain to run for public office and win a seat on City Council [2008–2016]. The story notes that Terri and Glenn had been married three days earlier in “what was said to be the most hastily arranged wedding on record.”

The evening before their Sunday, June 29th wedding, Terri and Glenn attended a Cape May Stage gala at the beautiful Sea Grove Avenue estate of Chris and Dave Clemans. The weather was flawless. A big white tent graced the expansive finely manicured lawn and blooming gardens. The music floated on a soft sea breeze. Dancers twirled into the night.

Engaged for two years, Terri and Glenn, with busy schedules and big families, had been trying to arrange a wedding date for some time. On the night of the gala, at the urging of hostess Chris Clemans, they decided to take advantage of a perfect venue in perfect weather and get married in less than 24 hours, at 6:30 the next evening.

It was a challenge obtaining a wedding license on a Sunday, but the deed was done. Friends at the Washington Inn agreed to cater the event. Friend George Mesterhazy, the late local and popular jazz pianist, gathered musicians. Kate’s Flowers said no problem to delivering the bouquets. Terri’s sister Melissa in Connecticut said yes, she could make it to be matron of honor. Glenn called his relatives, who said yes, we will be there. Terri found a bride’s dress at Pearl’s. Glenn shopped for a wedding band at Patricia Jackson Jewelers. Bud Swain said he would give his daughter away. One hundred and thirty impromptu guests attended. The wedding was beautiful, the weather was excellent, and everyone had a great time. The next day the bride and groom had to go to work.

In 2010, Glenn, skilled in carpentry, joined the store team, and now oversees the hardware department. The store is currently co-managed by Terri, Glenn, Rick and Julie Kuhn. Each handles a department and several other responsibilities.    

On a hot day this past August, sitting in the cool dining room of the Swain family home next to the store, Terri reflected on the history of the store, the family, and her journey. She said it was in this house where her father passed away in hospice care this past May, at the age of 87, in the same place where he was born. Bud Swain spent time on the phone in his last days, talking to his brother Robert in Michigan, age 89, the keeper of the family tree. They chatted about the old days when they were boys. Since then, Terri, who attends bible study, has discovered old family bibles and notes in them from previous generations.

Terri shared some of her experiences as a recovering alcoholic. She goes to work early, allowing time for long meditative bike rides around town and along the beach before businesses wake up. She has become a volunteer certified care recovery specialist, on call to assist and support substance abuse cases in emergency rooms and in other circumstances. She and Glenn are members of The Lighthouse Church in Cape May Court House. Glenn shares his substantial musical talent at worship services featuring electronic music and song. Terri participates in CURE—Christians United for Recovery—“a clearing house for recovery by helping, healing and hoping.” Together they are involved in church mission trips to Ecuador to help build homes, schools and gardens. They are looking forward to another trip when they will work with families in the wilderness.

The Swains’ story takes the twists and turns of a novel. But it has the strong common thread of dedicated service throughout the family’s long and lasting journey—from the island of Nantucket to Cape Island and Swain’s Hardware which serves as a bridge to the past, present and future of the community
it serves.