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Think the Peachoid outside Gaffney, South Carolina. The water tower built to look like a peach, sort of.

Then there’s the old Shell station on Sprague Street in Winston-Salem. As the story goes, the local gas distributor wanted to build brand awareness to the Winston-Salem market. It’s still doing that 95 years later, though it’s no longer an operating filling station and is now an historic landmark.

Then there’s the giant coffee pot near Old Salem. It’s the oldest landmark in the city, dating back to 1858 when two local tinsmiths built the piece to promote their business. The pot measures over seven feet tall and could hold 740 gallons of steaming brew if one had enough percolators to fill it. One legend is that the pot provided a hiding place for a soldier during the Civil War. Confederate or Yankee, nobody is sure. However, the pot has been the target of Halloween pranks including a spectacular episode involving black powder and dynamite.

Speaking of Winston-Salem, anybody out there remember a puffing billboard? If I remember correctly, it was in a curve near N.C. Baptist Hospital, visible primarily from the eastbound lanes. It certainly left an impression on me, and I’ve never smoked.

The largest chest of drawers and highboy in High Point was originally built as a curiosity in the 1920s, as the “bureau of information.� The 40-foot piece has evolved over time to include two large socks peeking out of a drawer to honor the local hosiery industry. Clever.

Not to be outdone, neighboring Thomasville has its giant chair. The Duncan Phyfe design was made from concrete to honor furniture makers.

When in West Jefferson, drive by Ashe Cheese Company and you’ll see a trio of milk tanks-turned-Holsteins. On most days, you can watch employees make cheese in the building behind the cows.

I understand there is a giant children’s “shoe house� along Hwy. 182 west of Lincolnton. It’s in the front yard of a private home.

In a similar vein, a Denver exterminating company has a large black widow spider made of stainless steel on the front lawn.

By the way, Mooresville has a 15-foot fiberglass moose near the intersection of Hwy. 150 and 115. Reportedly the moose has Christmas lights on its antlers.

Speaking of lights, who doesn’t love neon? Two prime examples hover on the Roanoke, Virginia, skyline: the animated H&C Coffee Pot that “pours� hot coffee onto the roof of a three-story building on Salem Avenue. At least it was pouring the last time I was there. Adding to the nighttime color is a gigantic Dr. Pepper bottle cap that lights up on a nearby building.

These cool landmarks are so popular, they appear in souvenir photos and Christmas ornaments.

Speaking of Virginia, Richmond’s Philip Morris statue commands attention along I- 95. It seems that at one point they had some tall smokestacks painted to resemble Marlboros and Virginia Slims. Or maybe I dreamed that.

Such as the headquarters of Longaberger Baskets in Newark, Ohio, with a nearby World’s Largest Apple Basket. Photos are enough to make me want to drive up there and take a tour. (It’s actually their headquarters built to look like a huge picnic basket with handles.)

Florida Orange World in Kissimmee, Florida, houses a notable fruit market with associated tacky postcards. I was there 30 years ago. It’s now known as Eli’s Orange World. I remember going there in search of marmalade. Is it even possible to visit Florida without buying one of those round jars made to look like — you guessed it — an orange?