(July 22, 2024)
The Cedartown Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia
Yesterday the wife and I set off for a quick road trip to Cedartown, Georgia to visit the Cedartown Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia. For us it was a two hour straight shot to Cedartown, which is a small Georgia town about twenty minutes south of Rome, or a little over one hour northwest of Atlanta. The weather forecast looked to be in our favor - however it was still going to be a scorcher that day as it had been for weeks now. None the less, we packed a small cooler of water and snacks and headed east with Coca-Cola on our minds.
Opening in 2016 by the Morris family, the museum displays their collection of thousands of porcelain, steel, and cardboard Coke advertising signs, vending machines, corporate ephemera, toys, hats, more variations of bottle openers than you’ve ever seen, a beautifully ornate Mahogany soda fountain imported from England, Coke bottles, and even a 1926 Ford Model T Coke delivery truck! The great part is there are many placards posted throughout the space giving you insight to what you are looking at and its significance in the story of the Coca-Cola brand and its evolution in marketing throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries. There is also a short looping movie that you can watch regarding Coke, the old bottling plant’s history, this collection, and how some of the items were obtained.
It took us a full two hours to visit everything in this museum and I took hundreds of photos. I’ll only post a few here, because this is one of those places that I can’t recommend enough if you have any interest in Coca-Cola, antiques, vintage advertising, or just want to spend a few nice air conditioned hours inside on a really hot Georgia summer day. The museum is open Thursday-Saturday 10am-3pm EST. You can visit their website at: www.cedartowncokemuseum.org and they can be found on Facebook and Instagram as well.
I also have to take a moment to recommend lunch at Zorba’s Italian & American Cuisine in Cedartown just two minutes from the museum. The nice lady working at the museum recommended it to us and it really hit the spot! We had a great tasting veggie pizza, lasagna, and a salad that was reasonably priced with a very attentive and friendly wait staff. You can’t go wrong! You can find Zorba’s on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/zorbas.restaurant.cedartown
