The Cracker Barrel Décor That Had Reddit Baffled
When you walk into any Cracker Barrel, you'll probably notice the same things you'd notice at your neighborhood Cracker Barrel. There are bound to be some differences, sure, but the atmosphere would still be the same. There would be the country store-style gift shop selling candy and knick-knacks, the smell of freshly baked biscuits in the air, and a collection of vintage memorabilia hanging from the dining room walls.
This collection of farm equipment, wagon wheels, and other pieces of rustic Americana treasures decorating these walls aren't just replicas. According to Cracker Barrel, not only are these actual antiques carefully picked from across the country, but there's a warehouse filled with over 90,000 such items, ranging from old vending machines, signs, and even a fully intact Model T. So comprehensive is Cracker Barrel's collection that The Atlantic went so far as to call the rows of antiques on the restaurant walls as a "genuine record of U.S. history."
But, since most memorabilia are relics from another time, it may be hard to identify just what exactly some of these antiques are. While a photograph or a farm tool is obvious, you may come across certain antiques that'll leave you scratching your head. This was the case for one Redditor, who seemed baffled at what the purpose of a certain object hanging above their table could have possibly been.
No one at Cracker Barrel seems to know what this thing is
On the subreddit r/HelpMeFind, a user posted a picture of a bizarre antique they found in a Missouri Cracker Barrel. The antique is a 5- or 6-foot long rectangular box, separated into 21 small compartments by wooden dividers. These dividers are marked with Roman numerals to number each compartment. The purpose of this odd antique seemed to baffle even the staff at this Cracker Barrel, as they had no idea what it was. While the Redditor believed it to be an egg catcher to be used in a chicken coop, others offered their own suggestions as to what it could be.
"Butter mold. Pour in the cream and then insert the slots afterwards. Let it sit until it solidifies, then remove the slots and take your sticks/blocks of butter out," one commenter explained.
"May be a long shot but my dad seems to think it's a homemade display caddy for tea bags or loose tea, or condiment sachets," another suggested. "The dividers can be taken out to make a bigger space for whatever is needed to go in there."
"It's a tiny ladder for mice, duh," someone joked.
The original poster would later add that they believed the odd item to be an apothecary drawer used for storing medicines, though they weren't too sure on that either. While this certain antique may still be a mystery, you can know that everything else in Cracker Barrel, even down to the Cracker Barrel peg game you find at every table, has a story behind it.