Driving down the Pennsylvania Turnpike is not exciting. The trip to Lititz is not long but seems to last years on the endless, winding road. Halfway through the trek, take a coffee break — a gigantic coffee break — with the Koontz Coffee Pot in Bedford, Pa.
The 18-foot tall pot, just off of Highway 30, was built in 1927. At one point in time, the United States was home to 15 oversized coffee pots. The Koontz pot was originally part of a lunch stand and gas station built to attract drivers on the Lincoln Highway.
If the pot was in service, it could serve 819,000 cups of coffee. Today, no coffee is served from the pot. That’s another stop on the trip.
In the 1980s, the kettle was left to deteriorate and was almost demolished in 1990. New ownership of the pot in 2000 marked the building as an important piece of novelty architecture. In 2003, the attraction was moved across the street and restored fully by 2004.
The coffee pot is free to see and explore, so force fellow road-trippers out of the car for the perfect photo op. It’s a 15-minute stop to discover one of Pennsylvania’s strangest attractions.
