Skip to main content

The Peachoid

For nearly 40 years, travelers along Interstate 85 near Gaffney, South Carolina have contemplated the design of a landmark water tower at mile marker 91.  Is it a peach or does it look like someone's rear end?
The Peachoid - what does it look like to you - a baby's behind or a peach?
The Gaffney Peachoid - a 135 foot water tower - has towered over Interstate 85 in Cherokee County since 1981.  Built as a necessity for the Town of Gaffney - designed as a reminder that Cherokee County and South Carolina is the largest producer of peaches in the South (not Georgia) - the Peachoid has attracted curious travelers to stop since the day it first appeared.

At a cost of $950,000, the tower took five months to complete and holds 1,000,000 gallons of water.  Fifty gallons of paint spanning twenty different colors later, the uniquely designed water tank became a giant peach - or if you prefer, a derriere.  The tower even received an award.  The Steel Tank of the Year for 1981 by the Steel Plate Fabricators Association.  In 2015, a refurbishing project gave the Peachoid a fresh coat of paint.

The Peachoid gained even greater notoriety when it was the focal point of Season 1 - Chapter 3 of the Netflix drama, House of Cards.  The added attention unfortunately led to an increase in petty vandalism at the site (name carving in the metal, graffiti).  In turn, the Town of Gaffney erected a six foot tall security fence around The Peachoid and closed the site at night.

All photos taken by post author - March 20, 2019

Further Reading:

How To Get There:
The Peachoid is easily accessible from either Exit 90 or 92 on Interstate 85.  Peachoid Road is the frontage road that leads to the tower.  Parking can either be at the Peachoid or at the Fatz Café next door.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ghost Town Tuesday; Mannfield, FL and the stairway to Hell

Back in 2015 I went searching the Lecanto Sand Hills for the original Citrus County Seat known as Mannfield.  Unlike Centrailia in Hernando County and Fivay in Pasco County I did find something worth seeing. Mannfield is located in the Lecanto Sand Hill section of Withlacoochee State Forest somewhat east of the intersection of Citrus County Route 491 and Mansfield Road. Mannfield was named after Austin Mann and founded in Hernando County in 1884 before Citrus County Split away.  In 1887 Citrus County was split from northern Hernando County while Pasco County was spun off to the south.  Mannfield was selected as the new Citrus County seat due to it being near the county geographic center.  Reportedly Mannfield had as many as 250 people when it was the County Seat.  The town included various businesses one might include at the time, even a sawmill which was common for the area.  In 1891 Citrus County voted to move it's seat to Inverness which set the s...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and temporary Hawaii Route 11

The 1959 Gousha Road map of Hawaii features two largely unknown references in the form of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11.  Both corridors are shown running from the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park east to Glenwood via Volcano Village.  At the time Hawaii Route 11 was using the so-called "Volcano Road" which was constructed as a modernization of Mamalahoa Highway during 1927-1928.  This blog will examine the two map references and will attempt to determine what they might indicate.  The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11 Hawaii Route 11 is part of Mamalahoa Highway (the Hawaii Belt Road) and is the longest Hawaiian State Route at 121.97 miles.  The highway begins at the mutual junction of Hawaii Route 19 and Hawaii Route 190 in Kailua-Kona.  From Kailua-Kona the routing of Hawaii Route 11 crosses the volcanic landscapes of southern side of the Big Island.  Hawaii Route 11 terminates at Hawaii Route 19/Ka...