About The Big Chicken
A 56-foot chicken rises above a working KFC at one of Marietta’s busiest intersections. Its red steel head, enormous eye, yellow beak, and white painted breast turn an ordinary restaurant into a piece of monumental roadside architecture. The bird is visible from well down Cobb Parkway and has served as a navigation landmark for generations of local drivers.
Restaurant owner S. R. “Tubby” Davis commissioned the structure in 1963 for Johnny Reb’s Chick, Chuck and Shake. Georgia Tech architecture student Hubert Puckett designed the steel-sided rooster, and Atlantic Steel fabricated it in nearby Atlanta. Davis wanted a sign that could not be ignored, and the result became far more enduring than the original restaurant brand.
The chicken was built to move. Its eye could roll, its beak opened and closed, and its comb turned with the wind. Early operation reportedly proved so vigorous that the machinery rattled or broke restaurant windows. KFC took over the location in the 1970s, but the giant bird remained perched above the dining room.
Storm damage in 1993 nearly ended the landmark. When demolition was considered, public opposition made clear that residents regarded the chicken as part of Marietta rather than disposable advertising. It was repaired and later received a major renovation in 2017 that refreshed the restaurant while preserving the famous mechanical features.
Inside, visitors find a functioning fast-food restaurant along with displays and souvenirs devoted to the landmark. The attraction is not a separate museum, so a visit can be as brief as a roadside photograph or as long as a meal beneath the structure. The parking lot offers the most familiar exterior view, though traffic around the intersection can be heavy.
The Big Chicken succeeds because it is simultaneously useful, absurd, and beloved. It began as a towering sales gimmick, became a local compass point, and survived long enough to acquire genuine cultural weight. Few chain restaurants inspire preservation campaigns, hometown songs, and directions based on the movement of a giant mechanical beak.