Lucy the Elephant and Gift Shop - Margate City, NJ
N 39° 19.247 W 074° 30.694
18S E 542102 N 4352488
Not every town can boast a resident 65-foot wooden elephant. Lucy the Margate Elephant is the “largest elephant in the world” and is also the oldest remaining example of zoomorphic architecture left in the USA.
Waymark Code: WM4492
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 07/05/2008
Views: 47
This is the featured attraction on the Margate City website tourism link. This is such an amazing structure. You enter through the hind leg and exit through the front right leg. The view is spectacular and the fun is never ending. How many times in your life will you be able to say you went inside an elephant.... and lived!
Lucy was designed by William Free of Phila. and was constructed in 1881 by J. Mason Kirby, at a cost of $38,000. She is 65 feet tall, with legs 20 feet high and 10 feet in diameter. Her body has a circumference of 80 feet; her head is 58 feet around.
Her ears are 17 feet long, her tusks 22 feet, her tail 26 feet. The trunk, which was used as an ash chute, is 36 feet. The basic structure is a timber box frame, to which curved wood pieces have been bolted. The whole thing is sheathed with about 12,000 square feet of tin. Lucy has a 60-foot long domed room in her belly, surrounded by smaller rooms and walk-inclosets in her flanks and jowls. The main room is reached by two spiral staircases in her hind legs. Inside her head is a raised platform like a captain's bridge; her eyes are two large portholes. Staircases in Lucy's flanks lead to the howdah, whose floor is a 16-square foot skylight that illuminates the main room. There are also eighteen windows.
Kids greater than 2 and less than 12 are free. Adults are $6 and kids are $3. Open from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Lucy is a designated National Historic Landmark and can be found on the National Register of Historic Places. It obtained this protective status in 1971.
The "Official Tourism" URL link to the attraction: [Web Link]
The attraction’s own URL: [Web Link]
Hours of Operation:
Through Labor Day
Monday - Saturday 10 AM to 8 PM
Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM
Admission Prices:
Kids greater than 2 and less than 12 are free. Adults are $6 and kids are $3
Approximate amount of time needed to fully experience the attraction: Less than 15 minutes
Transportation options to the attraction: Personal Vehicle or Public Transportation
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