20-Foot-Tall Rabbit

Gainesville, Georgia

The northeastern corner of Gainesville, Georgia used to be a hamlet named Rabbittown. It got the name because its farms raised the rabbits that the people in Gainesville ate for dinner. When Gainesville eventually absorbed it, Rabbittown gradually disappeared from Georgia's maps and became a dim memory.

Then Gainesville began promoting itself as "Poultry Capital of the World," and even erected a big pillar with a life-size chicken on top. It made sense for Gainesville; poultry is a Meat World winner. There are no Rabbit McNuggets, and you don't order a "Bucket of rabbit to go!" for a family feast.

But the elevation of the chicken rubbed some folks in the former Rabbittown the wrong way, and in 1993 they erected their own big pillar, topped with a much-larger-than-life-size rabbit. "Rabbittown, GA," reads a plaque on its base, from a hamlet that was no longer hiding its past. The rabbit has the soft lines and awkward alert pose of a chocolate Easter bunny, and makes a far more satisfying monument than the Gainesville chicken.