Unlike other obtrusive roadside distractions, Joe's Truck Stop is pretty subtle. It is a simple four foot thick wall placed at the bottom of a steep mountain road in Fort Payne, Alabama aka "sock capital of the world." The structure is reinforced with wire, pipe and the chassis from two Dodge trucks.

After one too many run ins, or perhaps a better term is run overs, of his front yard, ol' Joe Faulkner decided he had had enough and went about to put the brakes on these free wheeling good buddies who had whipped out every tree on his property.

The name Joe's Truck Stop was coined by local kids amused by the incidents. In 1950 alone, 13 rigs rolled through his humble domain. Every kind of truck from fruit to circus has taken a dump in Joe's yard.


If one were to give great thought to this architectural genius, and I don't suggest you do, it would be easy to draw a parallel to a line from a Robert Frost Poem which states: "Good walls make good neighbors."

While in the area you may want to venture to the end of downtown where the musical group Alabama has dedicated a museum to themselves. I didn't go inside. I try to maintain at least one ounce of integrity.

Joe's Truck Stop
5th Street NE
Fort Payne, AL