Effort to restore landmark Route 9 dinosaur in NJ

BAYVILLE, N.J. (WPVI) -- Virginia the dinosaur was named by a group of school children who covered her in hand-prints.

She's been sitting along Route 9 in Bayville since the 1930s and is more or less falling apart but there's an effort underway to keep her from going extinct.

"The dinosaur is a fixture in our community and it's something that's near and dear to a lot of us Bayvillians that have been here for a very long time - deep in our hearts, so we want to try to save it," said Mayor Carmen Amato, Berkley Township.

Sophia Weber owns the hair salon across the street.

"We love her. We have an old picture of her once here when she was originally built. We're just kind of hoping that she can go back to the original state and we can keep her. She's just part of our town," said Webber.

Before the parkway was built, Route 9 was how you got to the shore.

Back then, when you reached the dinosaur you knew you were halfway from New York or North Jersey to Atlantic City.

Virginia is made of concrete and rebar and weighs in at roughly 10,000 pounds.

The dilapidated dinosaur could use some dental work and a makeover.

The president of the Berkeley Township Historical Society says the landmark has had her troubles over the years.

"It has been hit several times by cars. You can see the head is damaged now, but the head has been damaged before. It's actually been knocked off, I believe out onto Route 9 and put back on," said Jim Fosbre.

Old photos of the dinosaur show it's changed. It used to sit outside a taxidermy business and had spikes and a different head.

"We certainly would want a more fearsome looking head, kind of restore it to what it looked like before, maybe put some spikes on the back of it even," said Jerry Beer, Berkeley Township Historical Society.

"If we don't save this it probably will just end up continually deteriorating and then being thrown in a garbage can," said Fosbre.

The committee is just beginning to brainstorm about fundraising and restoration, hoping the property owner might donate Virginia to the township.

However the goal is clear: to save this dinosaur from extinction.