Cathy's Love of Coffee TB

To all lovers of coffee, please bring my Coffee Cup to its favorite place - Old Salem Coffee Pot, Moravia Village, Old Salem, NC.  

UPDATE 2-29-24 - MADE IT TO ITS GOAL, THANKS TO bribird23!!

Please post pictures of it with your favorite coffee cup, as well as of coffee shops along the way and thereafter!!  

Feel free to add hitchhikers to join in its journey.

Coffee is the favorite morning beverage of Cathy Lewis, my geowifey!!  We placed this trackable in one of my Trackable Hotels near our home in Scottsdale, Arizona, on July 5, 2020 with a very specific Mission!!

In addition to the Coffee Travel Tag, which is made of metal and about 1.5" x 1.5", she attached several hitchhikers to join the journey.  With all of its hitchhokers, it will probably require a regular size or larger container.  Feel free to add more hitchikers!!

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2/11/26 - RE-RELEASED AS PROXY #2 AFTER PROXY #1 DISAPPEARED FROM A CACHE WHERE IT HAD BEEN PLACED OVER 9 MONTHS AGO!! PROXY #1 HAD TRAVELED ALMOST 3,285 MILES BEFORE IT DISAPPEARED NEAR LAVONIA, GEORGIA!!

10/2/23 - RE-RELEASED AS A PROXY AFTER THE ORIGINAL TB DISAPPEARED FROM A CACHE WHERE IT HAD BEEN PLACED OVER 13 MONTHS AGO!!  THE ORIGINAL HAD TRAVELED ABOUT 22,990 MILES BEFORE IT WENT MISSING NEAR CINCINNATI, OHIO!!

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ABOUT THE OLD SALEM COFFEE POT

Built in 1858 by Moravian tinsmith brothers Julius and Samuel Mickey to promote their shop, this massive tin coffee pot (previously called the Mickey Coffee Pot) was an overnight sensation for locals and visitors alike. At just over 7 feet tall, the giant kettle can hold up to 740 gallons, or about 11,840 cups of brew.

Through the years, legends have swirled around the monument, keeping it in the public eye and turning it into a nostalgic landmark.

Visitors are told that the Moravians that founded the village of Salem drink coffee from the pot on Easter Sunday, but it’s unlikely that coffee has ever been brewed in the large kettle. But the most common, unprovable, and therefore persistent tale is that the coffee pot provided a place of concealment for a Yankee solider in a time of peril during the Civil War. (Some stories claim it was a Confederate soldier.)

In reality, the pot has been a common subject of government debate, as it has been seen as a distraction to drivers passing by. Since horse and buggy times, traffic accidents have been a frequent commotion around the massive vessel. The post has been removed several times, considered a nuisance or “a blatant violation of the town ordinance regulating advertising signs,” but vigilant historical societies and local sentiment always prevailed in putting it back up.

However, the pot has been unable to escape being the target of Halloween pranks by local youth. For decades it was an unofficial tradition to knock the pot from its wooden pole perch. The pranks came to a boil in 1930 when 18 youngsters using black powder, a dynamite fuse, and scrap paper fashioned a massive homemade fire cracker together and tossed it inside the tin kettle, blowing apart the seams.

The criminals were quickly caught, as the scrap paper was stationery that had the address of one of the boys’ grandmothers at the top. Police recovered it and went to the culprit’s parents. Each of the offenders paid to repair the giant pot and it has seen little trouble since.

Today, the pot stands tall atop a cement column, unlikely to be disturbed, but likely to be admired by locals and coffee-lovers for generations to come.