Building Shaped Like a Coffee Pot

Lexington, Virginia

On US Highway 60 between Lexington and Buena Vista, a building that almost looks like a coffee pot sits on a the right side of a curving grade. The two-story corrugated metal structure qualifies as coffee-related by virtue of its roundness and the attached spout.

Ellen Bryant shed some light on the origins of the big pot. Her grandfather's brother Kenneth Wills built the coffee pot in 1959 (the family usually referred to it as a teapot). "He operated it as a restaurant for a long time, until he moved his family to Virginia Beach. Kenneth Wills died in 1964 from a heart attack. His wife still resides in Virginia Beach."

The coffee pot has been inhabited by a succession of business; during our time of observation it has been home to a vacation canoe rental operation, a fresh fish market, and an art gallery -- which added an accompanying big mug in 2017 -- with long periods of vacancy in-between. The distinctive coffee pot elements have always been visible.

Tourists now leave coffee cups outside the building as offerings.