Lucy The Elephant Margate NJ

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2019 Lucy is still going strong! Thanks to the dedication of the Save Lucy Committee and numerous fans and visitors she’s now well taken care of, and just waiting for you to come visit.

Original 2009 Post:

I just heard about this while driving home from work in the miserable cold rain and wanted to spread the news. Lucy the Elephant in Margate NJ is probably one of the most recognized pieces of programmatic architecture on the East Coast, and she's been damaged by the rain and storms we've been pounded with this season. Oh noes!

Seems as if a party tent was uprooted by high winds last month and debris from it hit Lucy, damaging her backside and her 14 foot tail. 86 metal panels will need to be replaced, with each panel costing around $500 apiece (doing the math it comes out to around $45,000- yikes).

A quick history of Lucy for those of you who have not been lucky enough to visit her, and take the steep steps up into her belly:

Built in 1881 to draw the attention of visitors to the area, Lucy is 65 feet tall and has been everything from tourist attraction to rooming house to bar to even a  summer home. Originally perched near the ocean up the road a bit, she was donated to the town of Margate in 1970, when committed citizens raised money to purchase the land where she currently stands.

Like many of our roadside delights, she's had her dark times and neglect, but has risen 6 stories above it all to become the trademark symbol of this Jersey Shore town, and a delight to kids (and kids at heart) everywhere.

We've visited Lucy more than once and love to take the tour 'round her insides, and climb up to the top to her "houdah" or basket where you can stand and survey the scene high above the seashore.  Here's the view from between her ears, on a sunny summer day when we last visited:

I always knew Lucy would be featured on the Retro Roadmap, I wish it wasn't under these circumstances. A fundraiser is supposedly underway but I can't seem to find any info about it- though I will do some digging and post when I find it out. If you want to make a tax deductible donation to help out Lucy, go to lucytheelephant.org.  I'll be finding out what we can do to help her get repaired, so we can enjoy her for another 100+ years!