Sweet Abandoned Coffee Shop
Coffee Pot Building
US 301
near Cordova, South Carolina
submitted by “FleeterClaye”
3/25/13 update: Many thanks to Paulette for sharing this wonderful article about how the Coffee Pot has “Perked Up”!
How darn sweet is the coffee pot decoration on this coffee shop from yesteryear? A truly bittersweet find. Thanks, Claye!
That is sad that it’s abandoned. It seems like the sort of thing someone would want to reno. Of course, there is the economy and all…Maybe someday.
I know!It sure beats Starbucks in my book 🙂
That is my family’s old property, it was called the Coffee Pot and was the spot to be in it’s day. It means so much to our family and it is so neat to see it on here! Thank you!
Michelle –
This is one of my favorite posts … I’m so glad that you commented. I would love to know more about its history!
Wow. This would be a dream come true for me. I’d buy it in a heartbeat! and the coffeepot would absolutely stay.
I love the coffee pot! Reminds me of something straight out of the movies, it’s great! Wouldnt find anything like that around here…
~S.
(sorcha, Swap-Bot)
Fleeter rocks. Good find.
Thanks, Boo!
This is great! And sad!! I love finding interesting little unique places. Thanks for posting all of these. I love your site! hollycm6 from swap-bot
Holly
The Coffee Pot was opened in the early 50’s by my Aunt and Uncle. They served breakfast and lunch only. It was all homemade from fresh local ingredients. My Aunt baked pecan pies every night for the next day with nuts from her trees. They closed about when I-95 opened and took the traffic away. Mr and Mrs Coffee Pot are no longer with us but so many wonderful memories linger.
Thanks for commenting, Ed. It means a lot to add the human element to the story.
I would love to hop in a time machine and have a piece of your Aunt’s pecan pie!
Should have added that my Uncle built the building and the coffee pot on top. There was not much he could not do
Ed –
I never did ask Fleeter (who took the pic) and I’ve been wondering … what is the lettering on the right side of the building?
It says Antiques. For a short time after the restaurant closed they rented it to someone for use as an antique shop. It did not last long.
I’ve been passing by this place since I was born in the late 50’s. When we were kids it was one of the landmarks that we looked for, it was just as impressive to me as the South of the Border signs. I stopped last year and took a photo of my 64 Ford Van parked in front of the building. I’d love more information and some photos of when it was open. Do yo know what year was the last year it was in operation as a cafe?
This is a classic. We stopped by there and took some pics last week. I peeked inside and it’s pretty rough. There is a lot of talk about 4 laning 301 through Georgia these days. The idea is to provide a four lane alternative to I-95. Sure would be nice to see some of these old icons dusted off and put back in business!!
Thanks so much to you, Wendyvee, for posting this and helping me to find it again.
As a boy, I used to ride by this landmark with my grandpa on our Sunday afternoon trips. For some reason I thought about it while planning a trip back home back in June and tried to find out where I’d seen it – and thanks to you I was able to find it again!
And as luck would have it, while we were taking photos and I was sharing childhood memories with my husband, a gentleman and his wife drove up in their cart and introduced themselves – Buck and Imogene Gray, the current owners, who live just down the road in Cordova! They expressed their love of the place, told us stories about its history and its former owners, and said they’d love to fix the place back up and get the perulator perking again!
I can only hope that the really friendly couple will be able to. We live in Cologne, Germany, now (oddly enough I moved to Bamberg in Germany as an adult after having driven through Bamberg, South Carolina, many a time as a kid)- otherwise I’d volunteer to help out.
Thanks so much again for helping me and some of the others too here relive a wonderful childhood memory…
Jody –
Wow, that’s fantastic! I’m so glad that you got to see it again … and how great is it that the Grays stopped in while you were there?! 🙂
Thanks to a storm actually knocking the pot down and forcing the situation, the Coffee Pot has been restored to its former glory – and what a beautiful job! Thanks Buck – it looks wonderful!
http://thetandd.com/news/local/coffee-pot-returns-to-familiar-perch/article_41fabb7e-94fc-11e2-9db0-0019bb2963f4.html
That’s fantastic! Thanks for the “heads-up” Paulette!
Thanks Buck, the Griffins are my Great Grandparents and spent many hours visiting them and of course having breakfast at the coffee pot when we visited from Florida. Thanks for working so hard to fix the coffee pot, the building, and of course for helping the keep my Great Grandparents alive in our hearts! I was remembering them the other day, and googled the coffee pot and the old dilapidated picture came up,then come comments and a link to the story about it’s restoration. This was on Monday…..the same day the article ran in the Times and Democrat. That was kind of spooky. God bless you for what you have done!