Lucy the Elephant Struck by Lightning

    Several weeks ago I visited and wrote about Margate's beloved Lucy the Elephant, the National Historic Landmark located on Decatur Avenue and the beach. Lucy, who is going to celebrate her 130th birthday on July 23, was struck by lightning for the second time in two years over the holiday weekend.
     Thankfully Lucy survived with no damage to her outer structure, though the strike did damage her climate control system, computer and office electronics, the alarm system, and the communications system. If you are planning to visit Lucy I recommend bringing cash because credit cards are currently not being accepted due to the damage to the computer system.
    For all those planning on attending Lucy's 130th birthday party on July 23, don't worry because the Friends of Lucy are not letting a lightning strike stop them from throwing her a grand party as is befitting for a lady of her years.

Lucy the Elephant- Margate, NJ

    How many New Jersey beach towns have a giant elephant sitting on the beach?

    Well if you guessed one then you would be correct.
    Margate, NJ, home to Lucy the Elephant, is the only beach town in NJ to have a six-story, elephant-shaped building sitting on valuable beach front property.

    Recently I was in Margate and I decided to visit Lucy. One of the reasons I wanted see her was because I heard she used to be a hotel, a rumor which I discovered to be untrue, though she has housed a restaurant, business office, and tavern over the years.

    Nestled among the elaborate vacations homes, many with fish filled fountains gracing their perfectly clipped, bright green lawns, Lucy looks tiny, standing 65 feet high, 60 feet long and 18 feet high, in comparison to the deluxe condos and three story mansions that surround her.

     I didn’t know what to expect when I embarked on my visit, but I didn’t expect an elephant themed gift shop, though I guess I should’ve since every tourist attraction I have ever been to has a gift shop. The gift shop employees impressed me more than Lucy did. The employees are very knowledgeable about Lucy and her history and, since I’m a history buff, I loved hearing them talk about her history.

    I guess I could have taken the $7 tour, which is offered every half hour, and ventured inside Lucy, but I figured that would be a waste of money, especially since the gift shop employees were willing to part with Lucy’s history for free.

    Lucy, “born” in 1882 to proud father James V. Lafferty, inventor of animal shaped buildings, was built in an effort to sell real estate and attract tourism. Lafferty created several elephant-shaped buildings, including one in Cape May, NJ, which was later torn down, but only Lucy survives. However, over the years, Lucy’s life has been threatened several times, including in 2006 when she was struck by lightening.

    In addition to being Margate’s claim to fame, Lucy, is famous in her own right. In 2009 she was featured in an episode of the show Life After People, which showed how the environment would take over the Lucy without people to maintain her.

    Though Lucy herself failed to impress me, her history fascinated me and I enjoyed taking pictures of an animal shaped building, the first I have ever seen.

   

Links:

Lucy, The Elephant Hotel

Lucy’s Beach Grille
Lucy on Facebook

Ventnor, NJ: The Land of Mini Mansions and No Public Restrooms

    Ventnor is a small beach town south of Atlantic City and on Monday my sister, Lauren, and I, decided to play hookie from work and travel there. Empty streets with an abundance of parking greeted us when we arrived. The beach was small; the distance from the ocean to the boardwalk was only about 150 feet.  There were also no public restrooms which led me to assume that most of the people who vacation in Ventnor rent houses, an assumption furthered by the fact that I didn't see any hotels when we walked around town.
    Since Ventnor lacked public restrooms, my sister and I decided to leave Ventnor and travel to Margate’s beach, which was less than two minutes away by car.

     It was very peaceful on the Margate beach, with most of the sand being unoccupied except for the occasional sun worshipper, older couple, or family with young children. The water was a warm 70 degrees, but it was windy out, which made it was too cold to go swimming, unless you were one of the surfers wearing a wet suit, but we did enjoy walking along the water's edge. 

    We did eventually end up back in Ventnor because my sister wanted to walk on the boardwalk, which is connected to the Atlantic City boardwalk and lined with mini mansions.

      In the end we walked over a mile and a half to get to the casinos. We didn't mean to walk this much, but my sister was convinced the casinos were closer than they really were. However, we put the walk to good use and gawked at the beach front mansions and snapped pictures. 

    All in all, Ventnor is a town full of rental homes with a small beach and a convenient location since Atlantic City is a short walk away and Ocean City is a short drive away, but I wouldn't recommend going to the Ventnor beach for the day because of the lack of public restrooms.