Week 1: The World's Largest Frying Pan

January 2, 2010

In the small town of Rose Hill, North Carolina is the acclaimed World's Largest Frying Pan.

I woke up Saturday morning and searched the internet for an adventure and found The Frying Pan. I started down I-40 to find the town of Rose Hill. I saw an exit for the town of Clinton and hopped off there to drive down route 701. 701 is a flat road; no hills, dips, humps, nothing. Random Fact - In 2007 Clinton was recognized as an All-American city. It has the standard fast food joints and a huge pig farm. It makes sense considering how much southerns love their BBQ (which by the way is vinegar based - yuck!).

I continued east on route 24 and through the town of Turkey (yes like the bird you eat for Thanksgiving). If you blink you may miss Turkey. More people live in there than my hometown though. Turkey only had 272 people living there in according to a 2008 census. But low and behold I found out later that the father of my friend Graham was born there. Small world.

Still driving down 24 and hung a left in Warsaw onto Route 117. I continued through Magnolia and into Rose Hill, NC. I found The Frying Pan on the main drag in a small park. It lives in a little shelter and smells like old nasty grease. This would be from the serveral times a year that the folks in Rose Hill use The Frying Pan. It can fry a chicken for each day of the year (365). This may require a second trip to see the pan in action. See pictures for all the details. It doesn't exactly look the the big cast iron skillet I was thinking, but it is quite unique in it's own.

I left Rose Hill and headed back the way I came from. This time I contiued east on route 24 and came to the town of Roseboro. Rose must have been a popular name back in the day. The banners read "Welcome to Roseboro: Just Good People." Roseboro had a a sign that pointed to the Historic Downtown. So I followed it. As I drove into Historic Downtown I was a little disappointed. It was historic alright. Most of the building were old and empty. I continue to head home.

And so ends the adventure for week 1. Small towns are always an interesting treat.