ASHBURN, Ga. — One of Georgia’s state monuments is back on its perch.
Ashley Miller, with the Ashburn-Turner County Chamber of Commerce, worked hard to raise nearly $60,000 to get an iconic peanut project on track.
“Everyone knows where the peanut is if you've been on I-75," she said with a smile.
Right off Exit 82 in Turner County sits the giant peanut. It is 21 miles south of Cordele. Now, it is back on its perch and, in its own way, waving to drivers as they pass by.
Linda and Len Rafuse love to stop at unusual places, and the peanut is right up there.
But the couple didn't butter things up when they talked about the attraction.
“I thought it would be bigger,” Len exclaimed.
The nut itself is only six feet high but its base goes 20 feet into the air. About 4.5 years ago, high winds from Hurricane Michael caused the peanut to fall to the ground.
“It was knocked over and cracked it looked like a cracked peanut quite literally we were all shocked you take it for granted,” Miller surmised.
It's now what you would call a hard nut to crack. It's made of sheet metal instead of fiberglass, and that sheet metal is 16 inches thick.
The patch of time where nothing sat on the bricks perplexed a lot of folks who piped up with their displeasure.
“I mean, I got phone calls once a week asking when we were getting it back,” Miller recalled.
Tabitha Thompson works at Carroll's Sausage and Country store.
“Our customers would ask when is the peanut going back up for I think about five years,” Thompson calculated.
The folks that pedal pork get a lot of folks thinking the peanut is theirs. It doesn't sit that far from the place.
“It was a long time and I'm so happy to see it back up there it's where it needs to be,” Thompson said.
The crown wrapped around the statue symbolizes that peanuts are king.
“I think it represents regionally that you've in south Georgia this is our economy and it's built on agriculture," Miller said. "I hope when our farmers see it they see it as a tribute to them and all the long hard hours they do putting in the work.”
The peanut doesn't come with a lot of pageantry. He's just a permanent pop on the road reminding us of our rural roots.