The Birthplace of Pepsi-Cola Store

Description:

• The antique storefront that contains this place once functioned as Caleb Bradham's Pharmacy, the site where the entrepreneur invented the formula for Pepsi-Cola in 1898, 13 years after the development of the original formula for Coca-Cola. Today the site functions as a hybrid store-museum, dispensing nostalgia along with 8-ounce glasses of Pepsi from a replica of an old-time soda fountain for 64¢ each. Also on display are Frisbees and commemorative T-shirts, each lauding Pepsi and/or its claim on the American soul, in one way or another. Subsidized by the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of New Bern, serving several counties of eastern North Carolina, the site is open Monday to Saturday 10am to 6pm.

• © Frommer's 2013