Wednesday, June 2, 2021

More Fun Along the Lincoln Highway

Picking up from two posts ago, here are some more sights along the Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania (with one extra). The "Coffee Pot" in Bedford is an example of novelty architecture. It fell into major disrepair before being restored and relocated by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. It's a tiny building, and you can't go inside.

Bedford is also home to a cool old art deco Gulf station that has been operated by the same family for generations.
This train station is a museum in Everett, just east of Bedford, but it was not open on our visit.
The Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor's main goal is to promote one of the road's best-preserved stretches through Pennsylvania. One of the ways they do this is by getting local trade schools to create "roadside giant" sculptures, like this quarter. Other examples include a giant gas pump, Packard, and fruit truck.

It's easy to tell which year this log church was built. Open to the public, it has a wine glass pulpit and a perilous upper balcony.
The popular name of the view below is "seven mile stretch." We set our odometer, and it came out as a lot less than seven miles!
A special sight along the Lincoln Highway is these concrete markers. Planted during a cross-country promotion trip by the Boy Scouts in 1928, these markers' installation was the last hurrah before the Lincoln began to fade out of the mainstream. There are only a hundred or so left in their original locations, which can range from a parking lot to a private lawn (below right).

This lookout was once the location of the famous "Ship Hotel," which claimed that you could see three states and seven counties from this spot. What do you think?
This is a pretty big leap forward in history, but an offbeat stop along the Lincoln is the "Big Mac Museum." It's not so much a museum as a few displays in a McDonald's, with the "World's Largest Big Mac" (!!!) in the Play Place.
Irwin, PA - where the "museum" is located - was the headquarters of the franchisee whose chain invented the sandwich. However, the restaurant at which the Big Mac was actually first served is less than ten minutes from my house.
Switching gears once again, this time off the Lincoln Highway, here's a wacky landmark in West Virginia, a collection of large fiberglass statues at a private home. You're allowed to stop and take pictures. It's a destination of sorts for fans of "Muffler Man" statues (like the one at center).
I don't know if there's anywhere else where you can see fiberglass statues riding a roller coaster.
As you pull away, make sure not to miss Santa!
I hope you've enjoyed these roadside finds!

8 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

Yay! More fun and interesting stuff from Lincoln Highway!

I love that little art deco gas station and I'm happy to see that something like that is still standing today.

I also love "roadside architecture" designed to look like food, animals, or other objects, such as that coffee pot. I have a book called "California Crazy," which documents that type of architecture, within California. Sadly, only a few of the buildings are still standing.

I take it that the roller coaster with the Simpsons characters doesn't actually run? I'm not surprised to see Bart goofing off by sitting on top of the safety bar, rather than inside the vehicle, but I'm surprised to see his rule-abiding sister, Lisa, doing the same thing! ;-)

Great pics today, Andrew!



TokyoMagic! said...

P.S. That giant Midas Muffler Man is pretty cool. It reminds me of the one that was here in my town. The Midas location is still there, but they removed the man from the roof of the building, some years back. Why? Because they ruin everything, I tell ya! I hope someone saved him.

That giant sculpture of the two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun, is also pretty cool!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSmAibfvCeU

Andrew said...

I've read that book before, TokyoMagic! In the third-grade gifted program, we spent the whole year on architecture and covered "programmatic" buildings a lot. We watched a documentary about them and built a model - what school should be!

No, the coaster doesn't run. :-) It's actually the same type as my first coaster. I've seen another set of those Simpsons characters on a bench, and Bart is laying upside down, which is why he's in an awkward position in this pic. Maybe he's on top of the bar to oil the track. Honestly, there're a lot of unexplainable things at this place!

The Big Mac Museum has that jingle scrolling on an electronic display.

TokyoMagic! said...

Andrew, that does sound like a WONDERFUL third grade class!

Andrew said...

The highlight was when we got to go to Fallingwater at the end of the year - still my favorite field trip ever.

TokyoMagic! said...

Andrew, what a great school field trip! I love Frank Lloyd Wright architecture. My dad was a HUGE fan of his, and was able to see Fallingwater in person. However, he saw it before it's major restoration, so at that time, there were temporary support beams holding some of the structure up. Those were removed after the restoration.

"Lou and Sue" said...

The Coffee Pot reminds me of "Coffee Pot Rock" in Sedona, Arizona. Cute building - too bad you couldn't see inside.

Speaking of Big Macs, they aren't as good as they used to be. I used to love them! As a matter of fact, none of McDonald's food is as good, anymore. "Back in the day," the food was made fresh - but now it's pre-made and just reheated. Very blah and dry, compared to 40 years ago. OK, I'll get off my soapbox.

I LOVE Frank Lloyd Wright's style! Andrew, you really had a terrific opportunity, as a youngster!

Andrew, I always enjoy joining you on these fun road trips! Keep posting!

Andrew said...

We could see inside the Coffee Pot, Sue, but there wasn't really anything to see. I'd definitely be curious to compare fast food from the past with today's - that reminds me of the book 11/22/63, where they find out how everything was that much fresher back then! Thanks for the nice comment.