Orkeed

Across the world, there’s a fascination with coffee and coffee pots.  When coffee shops began really proliferating in the 1980s, I thought it might be a fluke event, a kind of fad popping up, but it became obvious as the disapproval of bars and taverns grew, the acceptance of coffee spread like so much spilled espresso.  Throughout America, you’ll find homages to coffee, from Tacoma, Washington, to Greensboro, North Carolina.  Not only will you find the accustomed corporate coffee shops (as well as the independents, hanging on for dear life), you’ll find entire buildings and giant reproductions of the coffee pot.  The oldest such monument to caffeine may be found near Greensboro, in Old Salem.

North Carolina contains a three city metropolitan area, consisting of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point, known as the Piedmont Triad.  In this area, you’ll discover over in Old Salem, a twelve foot coffee pot made of metal that dates back to 1860, one hundred and fifty years ago, intended to act as an advertisement for a silversmith.  It’s clear that this nation’s love affair with coffee is an honest one, as you might find by taking a look at all the other structures intended for revering the coffee bean: Stanton, Iowa has two water towers, one shaped like a coffee pot, the other like a coffee cup, the former 120 feet high, the latter 96 feet high; Lexington, Virginia, Tacoma, Washington, and Bedford, Pennsylvania, all have two-story buildings shaped like coffee pots.

While you’re in the city, take a look around; there’s a number of interesting places, such as the Greensboro Historical Museum or the Guilford Couthouse National Military Park. If you’ve had enough of coffee and are simply looking for a place to sleep, then you might stop in at one of the hotels in the Greensboro area and relax in comfort and style.  However, if you can’t sleep, then there’s sure to be a coffee shop nearby to keep you company.

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