Brame's Drug Store (Gone)
North Wilkesboro, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

Brame's Drug Store is located in North Wilkesboro. Brame's no longer appears to be dealing in drugs and only has the soda shop still running. The drug store also has an old ghost sign on the side of the building. Many thanks to Richard Weiss for info. 05-08

Built in 1891, the structure was North Wilkesboro's first brick commercial store. Brame's became associated with it in the early twentieth century and developed a wider market through its Vapo-Mentha Salve. Newspaper advertisements from 1919 offered the preparation through dealers and directly from the North Wilkesboro company.

UPDATE: The downtown building has been repurposed as The Dispensary Restaurant & Pub. Its projecting pharmacy sign is gone, while the surviving structure preserves the setting of one of the town's best-known former drugstores. 11-26

Historic Roseman Grocery Building
Salisbury, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

Two soft-drink names give the Historic Roseman Grocery Building more advertising history than its modest size might suggest. Coca-Cola occupies one wall, while Cheerwine appears on another. The combination makes this North Lee Street building a worthwhile stop for anyone exploring Salisbury's painted signs. 05-08

Built around 1913–1914, the property housed W.A. Roseman's grocery by 1922. Later occupants included a barber shop, shoe-repair business, and the office of African American dentist Dr. Lee C. Jones. Those changing uses reveal a building connected with considerably more than groceries, even though its beverage advertising remains the most immediately recognizable feature.

UPDATE: The building survives in adapted use, retaining its Coca-Cola and Cheerwine ghost signs. Together, the advertisements preserve a familiar national brand and a drink created in Salisbury on the same small commercial property. 11-26

Pepsi Cola Bottling
Rocky Mount, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

The faded Pepsi-Cola lettering on this Rocky Mount bottling building continued advertising long after its original working days ended. Painted directly onto the wall, it gave passing motorists a recognizable clue to what had once happened inside. The weathering made it an interesting find rather than simply another current soft-drink advertisement. 05-08

Pepsi originated with pharmacist Caleb Bradham in New Bern during the 1890s. Local bottling operations later helped carry the brand into surrounding communities, supplying stores, restaurants, and service stations. Buildings like this belonged to that distribution network, when production and delivery had a more visible presence within individual towns.

UPDATE: The former plant has been repurposed, with Pepsi operations continuing elsewhere in Rocky Mount. The surviving painted advertisement retains the old building's bottling identity after its original equipment and daily deliveries moved on. 11-26

Pepsi Sign (Gone)
Franklinton, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

The faded Pepsi advertisement in Franklinton belonged to a newer generation of wall signs. Its red, white, and blue design carried the slogan “You've got a lot to live, Pepsi's got a lot to give,” recalling the brand's youth-oriented advertising around the turn of the 1970s. Even in weathered condition, it stood apart from older painted soda lettering. 05-08

Ghost signs don't have to be a century old to become interesting. This one recorded the graphics and sales language of its own period, when familiar brands regularly updated their image. Left on the wall, the campaign gradually became a piece of roadside history.

UPDATE: The advertisement disappeared by 2012, having been painted over or otherwise removed. It no longer adds its bright Pepsi-era message to the old U.S. 1 streetscape. 11-26

Roper & Co. Grocer
Essex, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

Here's an old truck "box" at the side that was pretty cool although the lettering on it may be from a previous owner and location. The lettering displays Roper & Co. Grocer. Many thanks to Richard Weiss for info. 05-08

Roper & Co. was associated with the wholesale grocery trade in Petersburg, Virginia. The lettering may therefore identify a former owner whose equipment eventually traveled into North Carolina. Without a vehicle record, the exact route remains uncertain, but the box preserves the appearance of commercial advertising designed to move.

UPDATE: The truck body's present condition has not been confirmed. Its surviving lettering records a different kind of ghost sign—one carried on delivery equipment rather than painted onto a permanent building. 11-26

Historic Wilson Coca-Cola Bottling Plant Building
Wilson, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

Here is the ghost sign from the Historic Wilson Coca-Cola Bottling Plant Building, this one in the town of Wilson, NC. This was a much large facility, the others being a two story affair yet of a similar style. Many thanks to Richard Weiss for info. 05-08

The bottling works once supplied Coca-Cola to businesses throughout the surrounding area. Painted lettering helped identify the operation, but successive coats eventually produced the layered appearance seen here. As newer paint wore away, portions of earlier messages returned, leaving several advertising periods visible together.

UPDATE: The former bottling building has been repurposed, while its layered ghost signs survive. The machinery has moved on, but the familiar script and partially exposed lettering continue recording the property's soft-drink history on the brick exterior. 11-26

City Service Station
Franklinton, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

The faded City Service Station lettering gave this former Franklinton garage an identity after the pumps stopped operating. Painted advertising and the practical building recalled a family-run business serving motorists along Main Street. By this visit, the weathered exterior had become an interesting roadside subject in its own right. 05-08

Johnnie Callihan and later his son Joel operated the station. The building subsequently became Johnny's on Main, a restaurant documented in business by 2014—not a conversion first undertaken in 2022. Preservation efforts also focused on its painted Coca-Cola advertisement, which was restored in 2013.

UPDATE: Johnny's on Main later closed. A subsequent account reported damage to the painted sign in 2022, so its continued survival in restored condition should not be assumed. The former station remains part of downtown Franklinton's commercial history. 11-26

Coca-Cola Sign
Franklinton, NC
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

Right next to the old Texaco Gas Station is another reason to slow down in Franklinton. The faded Coca-Cola ghost sign looks right at home beside the vintage station, making this little corner feel like a step back in time. 05-08

After fuel sales ended, the former station site became Texaco Station Park. That reuse preserved a recognizable downtown corner rather than replacing it with another building. The painted beverage advertisement added to the setting, connecting the small public space with the commercial activity that preceded it.

UPDATE: Texaco Station Park remains part of downtown Franklinton. The Coca-Cola wall advertisement has been associated with preservation work at the corner, although its latest condition has not been independently confirmed. 11-26