Burma Shave and See Rock City

It has been called the greatest engineering feat in modern times, and the best investment our nation ever made. But, if there is a downside to the Interstate Highway system in this country, which is 50-years-old this year, its probably that those mom and-pop service stations, restaurants and motels - better known as motor courts in those days - that lined the pre-interstate major roads in Georgia and elsewhere, are, for the most part, a thing of the past.

Most of the owners were probably unable, financially, to pull up stakes and move to an interchange along the nearest interstate. Stuckey's stands out as one of the more noticeable exceptions. But, then again, it was a chain operated by a millionaire south Georgia businessman.

Restaurants, service stations and motels along such main thoroughfares such as U.S. Highways 41, 441, 23, and 78 quickly became empty, boarded-up and overgrown with grass and weeds as motorists began using the new four-lane superhighways. Their place was soon taken be the likes of McDonald's, Cracker Barrel, Quick Trip, Marathon, Holiday Inn, Best Western, and so forth.

Another staple of highways like 41, 441, 23, and 78 were those See Rock City signs - sometimes painted on the sides of barns which had been painted in the Tennessee tourist attraction's signature Red, Black and White color scheme. You won't see those along the Interstates. Wonder how much farmers and other landowners made over the years by agreeing to have pieces of their property turned into Rock City billboards? Today, in their place, we have cell phone towers sprouting from farmland all over the country.

And, who can forget the Burma Shave signs that dotted the shoulders of those backwoods highways? One or two words per sign. A series of six or seven signs until the message was complete - always ending with the words Burma Shave? You won't find those along the interstates either. Wonder how many wrecks were caused by motorists who were distracted from driving while trying to read those signs?.

DINAH DOESN'T

TREAT HIM RIGHT

BUT IF

HE'D SHAVE

DINAH-MITE!

Burma-Shave



(Ken Stanford is News Director for Radio Stations WDUN NEW TALK 550, MAJIC 1029, and SPORTS RADIO 1240 THE TICKET and AccessNorthGa.com.)