A Ponderous Pachyderm by Rick Klepfer
A huge elephant has been lurking around the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and South Decatur Street in Margate, New Jersey. Have you seen it? Many people have, as it has been grazing there for the last 140 years. Standing 65 feet tall and weighing about 90 tons, it is difficult to miss. Rumors are that it can be seen from eight miles offshore. No, it is not an escapee from Jurassic Park or from some biological experiment gone off the rails; it is Lucy, The Margate Elephant. This whimsical and unique
structure was the idea of a gentleman named James V. Lafferty, who was a land speculator in what was, at the time, South Atlantic City. Since it was no easy day trip from the mid-Atlantic urban areas of the late 19th century to Mr. Lafferty’s land, he decided to create something to draw people there and to hopefully sell them one of his house-lots. So, why not an elephant that you could “go through and come out alive,” as was printed on early postcards of the elephant? Construction was com-
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