Daniel B.
Yelp
Since 1999, I've driven past the Peachoid water tower countless times while on I-85. Born and raised in High Point, North Carolina (where my parents still live), gone off to college at Georgia Tech and settled in Atlanta for 20 years, and now living in both Atlanta and the NC Triangle, the Peachoid symbolizes a few things to me:
1. If heading northbound, it's time to stop for gas at the QuikTrip at exit 90 in Gaffney: https://www.yelp.com/biz/quiktrip-gaffney.
2. Regardless which direction I'm headed, it's time to stop for peaches and say hi to peach-seller Gideon at nearby Abbott Farms: https://www.yelp.com/biz/abbott-farms-gaffney. There are multiple Abbott Farms peach stands. This one is located just down the road from the Peachoid on Peachoid Road. Their peaches - yellow, white, freestone, not freestone - are the best.
3. If heading northbound, I'm deep into my drive and almost in North Carolina. The Peachoid is almost a three-hour drive from Atlanta.
4. If I'm heading southbound, I've made solid progress. The Peachoid is about a two-hour drive from High Point and a three-hour drive from Chapel Hill.
Between Atlanta and the Triangle, which is an approximately 380-mile drive that takes around six hours, the Peachoid is the only major man-made landmark that I can think of. It's significant in this regard. Aside from rivers here and there, Lake Hartwell, on the Georgia-South Carolina border, is the only other sort of "landmark" I can think of on the I-85 corridor from Georgia to North Carolina.
The Peachoid is fenced in, but you can still pull into its small driveway and tiny gravel parking lot if you want to get out of your car and take pictures of/with it. You can also park next door at Fatz Cafe: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fatz-southern-kitchen-gaffney.
Check out my "Carolinas I-85 Corridor" collection on Yelp to see other places I've stopped at and reviewed on my long hauls between Atlanta, the Triad, and the Triangle: https://www.yelp.com/collection/Ey266j_8lAHk7iQLDODC9g/Carolinas-I-85-Corridor. They're mostly gas station reviews. I try to minimize the number of stops I make.