The Giant Peach water tower near I-85 in Gaffney, SC

The Giant Peach Water Tower in Gaffney, South Carolina

It is real, it is a water tower, and no, it is not a "giant butt".

The Giant Peach (referred to by knowledgeable locals as "the Peachoid water tank") is located in Gaffney on Interstate 85 near the exit for S.C. Hwy. 11 (the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway) .

It was built by the Board of Public Works In Gaffney, S.C. in 1981.  It took them five months to design and mold the steel for the project. 10 million pounds of concrete 1.5 miles of welds were used! The stem on the top is 12 feet long and 18 inches in diameter. An even larger leaf, 60 feet long, 16 feet wide, and weighing 7 tons, seen in the photo at left, was attached to one side. The cleft along the entire height of the peach was molded into the shape (not a painted illusion) by steel paneling attached to the structural sphere of the tank. The nipple on the bottom of the tank can bee seen from the other side, adding to the peach-realism!  Crews painted the tank stem brown, the sphere yellow, and the leaf green.  An artist was hired to paint the tank in colors matching the peaches grown locally.

Dennis Hardiman, the foreman on the construction crew in 1980-81, has a webpage devoted to the giant peach (or peachoid, as he calls it)

And nearby, you will find the S.C. Welcome Center, 864-839-6742, at 100 HWY I-85 South Bound
Blacksburg, S.C.

Apparently, there is also a  1/2 million gallon peach water tower on I-65 near Clanton, Alabama (south of Birmingham). That area is also known for it's peaches.

For peach picking tips and peach recipes, see this page!

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• South Carolina peach and other ffruit Pick-your-own farms
• Click here for the Harvest Calendar for South Carolina
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