Over the years, the Gaffney Peachoid has been the butt of many jokes (see what I did there?) and it received its 15 minutes of fame after a mention in the hit Netflix series “House of Cards”. But how much do you really know about this popular landmark? Not much, huh? Me either, but after you’ve finished reading this post, you’ll be able to amaze your friends and family with your intimate knowledge of “The Moon Over Gaffney”!
The Gaffney Board of Public Works chose the shape of the peach due to the fact that at the time the local economy was dependent on peaches. They also wanted to make it clear that Cherokee County produced more peaches per year than the entire state of Georgia (the Peach State).
In 1981, after five months of design and fabrication by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company, the world’s largest peach was completed and ready for use.
That same year it was voted “Steel Tank of the Year” by the Steel Plate Fabricator’s Association.
To form the water tower’s foundation, over 10,000,000 (that’s ten million!) pounds of concrete was poured. The steel pedestal and tank contain one and a half miles of welds. Welding rods had to be delivered by the ton.
The primary function of the tank is to use gravity to maintain a steady water pressure in the local water system. It also holds 1,000,000 gallons of water in reserve.
And this thing is huge! It stands 135 feet tall (approximately four stories). The stem and leaf overlay is 60 feet long and 16 feet wide. The stem itself is 12 feet long and 18 inches in diameter. The “cleft” was formed using molded steel panels. After the pedestal was painted brown and the tank itself was painted a base yellow, 50 gallons of paint were mixed into 20 different colors to give the tank its distinctive paint job. Did I mention that it holds 1,000,000 gallons of water?
Due to the popularity of the Peachoid, it was copyrighted in 1983. Use of the ‘Oid was denied to the maker of a music video, but permission was granted to a calendar maker. Permission for use was also granted to Clanton, Alabama, and they constructed a smaller (500,000 gallons) replica.
Mr. Peach also has a 4/5 star rating on Trip Advisor. Yeah two losers, I mean reviewers, actually gave it a one star rating. And yes, I read all 128 reviews.
So now that you’re armed with a ton of useless Peachoid Factoids, I know you are ready to visit. If you are Instagram, be sure to tag your selfies with @thebeardneversleeps. I would love to see them!
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