Bedford, Pennsylvania

Koontz Coffee Pot

This titanic java kettle is one of the many kitschy landmarks located along America's OTHER famous highway.

Along stretches of the Lincoln Highway are various novelties, including an enormous coffee pot in the town of Bedford, Pennsylvania.

If Route 66 is considered the “Mother Road,” then the Lincoln Highway, the first improved highway across the United Sates for automobiles, would be the “Father Road.” Starting in Times Square in New York City and finishing in San Francisco, the Lincoln Highway was first recorded at 3,389 miles, and in 1919 a young soldier named Dwight David Eisenhower was in a convoy that crossed the continent via the highway. His experiences would lead to the drafting of the bill that created the Interstate Highway System. Much of the Lincoln Highway has been renamed to US Route 30 and realigned in various places.

In Bedford, David Berton Koontz built the Coffee Pot next to his service station in 1927 to attract customers. It was made of bricks and covered in sheet metal, and was 18 feet tall and 22 feet wide. The Pot changed hands at various points, becoming a diner, bus station, and a bar. In the 1980s, the Pot closed, and languished in disrepair.

The Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor bought the pot in 2003 and, with the help of a state grant, moved it from its old location to the Bedford County Fairgrounds and restored it. It now acts as a museum for the Bedford Fair, and an eye-catching stop for travelers on the “Father Road”.