When you walk into the Oak Hill Cemetery in Johnson City, you’ll see your typical headstones, some small, some large. But there’s one particular headstone that’ll stand out amongst the rest.
It’s a Mountain Dew headstone; shaped like a glass bottle, and it even has a bottle opener attached to it!
The gravestone isn’t dedicated to one individual but rather just signifying that Johnson City is the home to Mountain Dew, where it was invented!
According to Thrillist, Mountain Dew was invented by two brothers, Barney and Ally Harman, who moved to Knoxville in the 1930s. They came up with the idea for the drink when they wanted something to mix with their whiskey. They created the lemon-lime drink and it tasted delicious with their whiskey. Next it was time to give it a name.
Barney and Ally settled on the name Mountain Dew, which is actually old timey slang for moonshine.
To appeal it to the masses, they gave it funny slogans like “it’ll tickle yore innards” and included the country-lookin’ cartoon guy, like you see on the headstone. It wasn’t until the 1950s that a beverage company purchased Mountain Dew from the brothers. With the exception of adding lemonade, they kept the same recipe. Then, in 1964, PepsiCo purchased the rights.
In 1974, Pepsi added orange flavoring and the signature lime-green coloring…
Pepsi also got rid of the country dude and Mountain Dew became a hit and one of people’s favorite soft drinks. Eventually, the company also shortened the name to just Mtn Dew.
PepsiCo’s website says that Mountain Dew was first marketed in Knoxville, Johnson City, and Marion, Virginia.
