I decided to revisit some scenes from one of my mysteries A Merry Little Murder which takes place at a Christmas ballroom dance competition in a fictional Atlantic City Casino. One of the sites I used was the town of Margate, south of Atlantic City on the Jersey Shore and the home to Lucy, the Margate Elephant.
Lucy is a National Historic monument. Made of wood and tin, she stands six stories high, weighs 90 tons, and is over one hundred years old. She was built as a novelty to encourage the sale of real estate in 1881. Though her life hasn’t been easy and she came very close to being torn down on several occasions, she is the most beloved icon on the Jersey Shore.
She’s been use as an office, an apartment, a tavern. You can tour her interior, by climbing the spiral staircase in her back leg to the apartment inside. Look out her eye portholes to enjoy a majestic view of the Atlantic Ocean.
Lucy The Elephant
9200 Atlantic Ave.
Margate, NJ 08402
Hamley's Toys
The famous Hamley's Toys where this charming Major-domo came on board to hand out goodies to the kids and and chat with the adults |
Orient Express
Anyone for the Orient Express? Alas, we only discovered it because we missed our train |
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Westminster Cathedral
Westiminster Abbey with its inspiring Poet's Corner |
Brighton Royal Pavillion
The Prince Regent's favorite pleasure palace |
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Bath Cathedral
On to Bath and its beautiful cathedral |
Bath Roman Baths
And Roman baths |
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Sidney Gardens
Sidney Gardens inn Bath where Jane Austen never saw someone relaxing on the grass like this |
View from Minack Theatre
The best of all: Cornwall |
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Minack Theatre
Incredible Minack Theatre built of stone at the edge of the world |
Minack Theatre
Imagine this as a backdrop to a play |
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Mousehole
Remember the story of The Mousehole Cat, (pronounced mowsel) that wonderful picture book by Antonia Barber and Nicola Bayley? A favorite in my family. Well here we are in Mousehole where the cat holds back the sea. |
The Mousehole Cat
And here is the Mousehole cat just as he looks in the book |
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Mousehole
Business named after Stargazey Pie |
Mousehole
A walk along the way where we met a delightful older gentleman who hated to see the old ways pass. Bet he loves the story of the Mousehole Cat |
