Another Roadside Attraction Geotrail

North Carolina - Vintage Shell Gas Station 

There is nothing better than a good road trip: driving down the open road, eating at tiny roadside diners, going 150 miles out of the way to take a selfie in front of … the Peachoid water tower! Oh Say, can you see … me with the world’s largest frying pan?

This geotrail honors those unique, odd, bizarre, fun, historic, campy, weird, and just downright interesting roadside attractions in North and South Carolina. The caches aren’t meant to be hard, it is a power-trail after all. None of the caches are hidden at the posted locations - but answer the question correctly and you will have a working set of coordinates. All of the hides are preform bottles.

In the 1930s, a local distributor of Shell called Quality Oil built seven stations to look like clamshells as a quirky advertisement to draw customers. The clamshell stations represented the transformation of a brand into a building, a symbol into a real thing. This last station remained open until the 1950s and housed a lawn mower repair business in the 1970s and 80s. In 1976, it became the first individual station in America to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Formerly the building served as a regional office for Preservation North Carolina, now the clamshell is a shrine to itself. On the walls inside hang framed newspaper articles about its opening and a clamshell station calendar. Antique black-and-white photographs line the shelves, which also display a teddy bear, old Shell signs, a coffee mug, miscellaneous antique cans, and a vintage Monkey Grip Patch. A coffee table book has been left open to a picture of the station. In one corner sits an antique red container labeled Shell. Preservation North Carolina still holds protective covenants on the property, so the clamshell will be preserved in perpetuity. 

N 34 28.591 W 79 16.ABC

Where can you find the Shell filling station?

A. Winston Salem, NC - 029 

B. Four Oaks, NC - 153

C. Asheville, NC - 795 

D.  Fayetteville, NC - 486