The Peach State clearly got short shrift in a recent USA Today rundown of "iconic landmarks" that road-trippers should visit in all 50 states.
Some picks were obvious: Arizona (Grand Canyon), Florida (Walt Disney World), while others around the South were less awe-inspiring from a physical standpoint but nods to invaluable history: Alabama (Selma Bridge), Mississippi (B.B. King’s birthplace), North Carolina (The Biltmore Estate), and Tennessee (Graceland.)
And then there was Georgia, where USA Today readers are advised to visit the Big Chicken.
Bwwwaaaack!!???!!??
Their reasoning: "Did you know there is a very famous landmark in Georgia called the Big Chicken? It holds a KFC although the chain did not originally build the structure."
Also worth noting: It’s a mere 56-foot-tall steel clucker amid seas of strip malls. One Curbed Atlanta reader who spotted the national story opined, simply: "Very disappointing."
So the question must be hatched: Is the Big Chicken even the most iconic sign in metro Atlanta?
Wouldn’t the dazzling neon Coca-Cola paean atop the Olympia Building downtown be a more appropriate choice, especially as it relates to local history? Or how about signs for The Varsity, Ebenezer Baptist Church, or hell, the Clermont Lounge?
Other "iconic" options: Stone Mountain (especially with the Outkast addition), the Westin Peachtree Plaza (it’s still a stunning and famous landmark), Savannah’s River Street, or even "the Deliverance river" (okay, maybe not).
- 50 state road trip: Iconic landmarks around the USA [USA Today]
- Your Ultimate Guide To Atlanta's Most Iconic Signs [Curbed Atlanta]
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