The Home of Split Pea Soup and Other Strange Claims to Fame
By: Keith
I drove 200 miles up the Pacific Coast Highway yesterday enjoying the scenery and the meandering road. Then, like every other town that announces its presence, I saw a sign for Buellton, a little town with a funny billboard. The population of Buellton would like everybody to know that they are the home of split pea soup. The city of Buellton website states that Juliette Andersen brought a recipe for pea soup from France (her home) and started serving it in Buellton some 80 or so years ago. That was, apparently, the beginning of split pea soup. I don’t know if she changed the recipe. Otherwise I think the French might have a problem with the claim “Home of Split Pea Soup.”
Seeing such a strange claim to fame got me thinking about other weird little tourist draws that I’ve seen around the Country in my travels.
1. The biggest chair in the world: I have, on several occasions, had reason to drive through Gardner Massachusetts and right past their huge chair (which is right on the main drag so you can know they’re really proud of it). It isn’t the biggest chair in the world anymore, but it was for almost 100 years so that’s pretty cool. Anniston, Alabama holds that honor now, and I know for a fact that the folks in Gardner are plotting revenge.
2. The Santa Cruz Mystery Spot: I went to it as a kid thinking it was some genuinely creepy place. But, of course, it’s just a tourist draw, and there are dozens of similar mystery spots around the country all claiming the same strangeness. The idea with all of them is that the laws of nature and physics are supposed to malfunction in that particular place causing you to be able to stand sideways (built the house crooked), shrink you (house built crooked) and other weird things (all caused by a crookedly built house).
3. Cow Chip Capital of the World: Yes, I actually found myself in the Panhandle of Oklahoma once where I saw a sign for Beaver, the Cow Chip Capital of the World. That was weird.
4. Cabazon Dinosaurs: These are visible to anybody who’s ever driven to Palm Springs on I-10. They are giant dinosaurs just standing in the middle of nowhere. It’s one of my favorite places because it reminds me I’m close to home when I see them. I stopped several years ago and bought some souvenirs because I couldn’t help myself (the Brontosaurus is a gift shop).
5. World’s Biggest Ketchup Bottle Water Tower: Why anybody would make their water tower into a big ketchup bottle is a mystery to me, but I’ve seen it! The people of Collinsville Illinois also claim to be the Horseradish capital of the world (Wikipedia says so).
That’s really all I can think of for now. I’ve seen other interesting things too but I just am not thinking of them right now. How about you? What strange roadside attractions or town claim to fames have you seen? I lived in a town called Waunakee for two years. Their claim is “The Only Waunakee in the World.” That, unsurprisingly, is an accurate statement.
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Anderson’s split pea soup is soooooo good!!!