Peachoid

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The Peachoid water tower in Gaffney, South Carolina.

The Peachoid is the name of a very large water tower in Gaffney, South Carolina, that resembles a peach. The water tower holds one million gallons of water and is located by interstate I-85. An example of folly architecture, the Peachoid is one of the most recognizable landmarks on the part of I-85 connecting Charlotte, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia.

Usually referred to by passing motorists as "The Peach," this four-story water tank is visible to travelers on I-85 for several miles before getting abreast of it between exits 90 and 92. A Ruby Tuesday's restaurant is now located just east of the water tower, a prime location for publicity.

The Peachoid soon after construction. The water tower has resulted in a great deal of commercial development (compare to above image).

The Peachoid was built in 1981 by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company, of steel and concrete. An overlay stem and leaf were laid across the structure, an enormous "cleft" was created with steel paneling, and Peter Freudenburg, an artist who worked with macro-art, painted the structure to realistically pass for a peach.

The Peachoid was commissioned by the Gaffney Board of Public Works, who had a need for elevated water storage and wished to find a way of building it using federal funding. The shape of the peach was selected because the Gaffney economy was then dependent upon peach orchards, and because the people of the town wanted to make clear that South Carolina, and at one time, Cherokee County (where Gaffney is located) alone, produces more peaches per year than the state of Georgia (known as the "Peach State"). Since its construction, the Peachoid's extremely high visibility has introduced an element of tourism to the local economy, and a smaller (500,000 gallons) peachoid has been built for Clanton, Alabama.

The Peachoid has appeared as an oddity in films in the past. In Lost in America, the travelers stumble across it.