Lucy the Elephant is back and welcoming Jersey shore visitors after months of restoration

MARGATE, N.J. - The grand re-opening of a Jersey shore icon as Lucy the Elephant is once again welcoming visitors after being shut down for more than a year for restoration.

"It’s brought back so many memories. It’s just a major landmark and she looks absolutely beautiful," Margate resident Cheryl Alberts said.

"We’ve been waiting a long time. I kept saying ‘When is that scaffolding coming down?’ It’s pretty amazing," Debbie Staashaught added.

After a 15-month, $2 million makeover that included new wood, new steel, new paint and new infrastructure, the 141-year-old unique roadside attraction, Lucy the Elephant, is open again.

"She’s the oldest roadside attraction in America. There are a lot of statues and historic sites, but there’s only one great elephant," explained Richard Helfant, with Save Lucy Foundation.

Lucy’s illustrious history includes being built in the likeness of a P.T. Barnum circus elephant in 1881, by a Philadelphia developer who was trying to market the shore and sell his beachfront lots. Through the years, she deteriorated and was almost destroyed, but locals loved their famous, six-story pachyderm.

Lucy is now a National historic landmark.

"She’s 65 feet tall, 90 tons before breakfast and the cutest elephant in the world," Helfant commented.