ATLANTA — There is so much to see along Georgia’s roadways.
But, I’m not talking about the obvious attractions. Rather, these are the oddities that sometimes make travelers scratch their heads, not pull over to the side of the road.
The Big Chicken, Marietta
The Big Chicken, located along Cobb Parkway in southern Marietta, is a throwback to another time, one when roadside eateries meant something different, and owners did what they could to draw people driving past.
In the early 1960s, S.R. “Tubby” Davis saw a potential with the relatively newly repaved Cobb Parkway, a divided highway that predated freeways as we know them today. Wanting to lure hungry travelers into his Johnny Reb’s Chick, Chuck and Shake restaurant, he erected a 56-foot-tall big chicken. After Davis sold the restaurant to his brother, it became a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise.
World’s Largest Peanut, Ashburn
Turner County, nicknamed “The Peanut Capital of the World,” is home to a Golden Peanut Co. shelling plant and “The World’s Largest Peanut.”
The 20-foot-tall monument, built atop a crown on a brick base, was made the state’s official peanut monument in 1998. The slogan painted on the side of the monument reads: “Georgia 1st in Peanuts.”
The monument, located along Interstate 75, is dedicated to Nora Lawrence Smith, a member of Georgia Journalism’s Hall of Fame, according to a plaque on the side of the monument.
Confederate Missile, Cordele
Along Interstate 75 sits a definite oddity — a Titan missile.
The missile was acquired from the Air Force in 1968 after it was declared obsolete. The missile was flown from California to Warner Robins Air Base where it was stored for some time before it was given to the community.
Titan I missiles were used between 1959 and 1965 and is considered the country’s first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). The missile in Cordele stands on what has been dubbed “Confederate Air Force Pad No. I.”
Big Red Apple, Cornelia
By the 1920s, apples were becoming an important crop in parts of the state, including Cornelia. Because of the crop diversification, Habersham County skirted the devastating effects of the boll weevil’s destruction of the cotton crop.
In 1925, Southern Railway donated to the city a monument dedicated to the fruit that helped save their community. The seven-foot-tall, 5,200-pound apple statue was molded in Winchester, Va., and sits atop an eight-foot-tall concrete pedestal next to the train depot in the center of town.
The apple was dedicated on June 4, 1926, and a number of dignitaries, including U.S. Sen. Walter F. George attended the event.
By the mid 1930s, the apple crop nearly spelled doom from the city, but the statue remained as a reminder of the city’s past.
Double-Barreled Cannon, Athens
The Double-Barreled Cannon is located in front of the Athens-Clarke County City Hall. Built in 1863 at a local foundry, the Double-Barreled Cannon was designed to fire two cannonballs connected by a chain so as to “mow down the enemy somewhat as a scythe cuts wheat.” Built as an experiment, but never used, the cannon is today little more than a bookmark in history and a rather unique relic.
