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Cracker Barrel American Heritage Skillets

crackerbarrel.jpg

YouTube: Cast Iron Souvenir and Collector Skillets (2019)

Cracker Barrel restaurants sell their own line of cast iron pans with the Cracker Barrel logo. These pans have always been made by Lodge Cast Iron. Beginning in 2012, Cracker Barrel began selling a line of cast iron skillets with an "American" themed design on the underside. In 2014 they officially named this their "American Heritage" series. These "American Heritage" cast iron skillets have been delivered to Cracker Barrel restaurants during March and April of each year. The restaurant chain sells them during their annual "American Heritage" theme sale each spring, especially during the period between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. After July 4, Cracker Barrel changes their restaurant theme to autumn and fall, and any remaining items from their "American Heritage" series are placed on sale at a discount. Of course, at many Cracker Barrel restaurants, the "American Heritage" cast iron skillet has sold out well before the Fourth of July!

Here are photos of the cast iron pans sold at its restaurants as part of its "American Heritage" series:

2012

In 2011, Lodge Cast Iron produced an American Eagle skillet for the so-called "10 year anniversary of September 11, 2011." (This is stated on the Lodge Cast Iron Web site.) The next year, in 2012, Lodge produced the same skillet for Cracker Barrel, with an American Eagle print. This design was actually a remake of a cast iron skillet design produced by Lodge Cast Iron with a "United We Stand" logo. Those skillets were originally designed and produced by Lodge as a memorial to the tragedy of September 11, 2001.

The Cracker Barrel skillet. This was sold in a 10-inch (#8) and 6-inch (#3) size:

Cracker Barrel 2012 Cracker Barrel 6-inch 2012

The Lodge Cast Iron "United We Stand" skillet from 2001:

Lodge United We Stand Skillet

2013: The "Statue of Liberty" skillet

Cracker Barrel sold a skillet with a Statue of Liberty design. As with the 2012 skillet, this was sold in 10-inch and 6-inch sizes.

Cracker Barrel 2013 Cracker Barrel 6-inch 2013

2014: The "Buffalo Nickel" skillet

2014 was the first year Cracker Barrel officially produced its "American Heritage" series. In 2014 Lodge Cast Iron provided skillets to Cracker Barrel's restaurants with a design based upon the classic "Buffalo Nickel" coin of the early 1900s. From 2014 to 2022, all of the skillets in the "American Heritage" series were only produced in a 10-inch size, and no 6-inch skillet was produced with this design. The 2023 "American Heritage" skillet was produced in a 12 inch size only. After the 2014 Cracker Barrel series sold out, Lodge Cast Iron continued to produce the "Buffalo Nickel" skillet under its own name for several years after. Note that because this design was copied from the actual coin, it was not copyrighted because the United States Government cannot copyright its own productions. Therefore, Lodge was able to produce this skillet on its own without having to pay any licensing fees to the government – or to Cracker Barrel. At this time, the Buffalo Nickel skillet is the only pan in this series produced by Lodge after it sold out at Cracker Barrel.

Cracker Barrel 2014

2015: The "Great Seal" skillet

The design on this pan was based upon the Great Seal of the United States. From 2015 through 2022, the "American Heritage" series has had a different unique design each year. In 2023, the "Great Seal" skillet was re-issued for Cracker Barrel in a 12 inch size only. The 2015 skillet was only produced in a 10 inch size.

Cracker Barrel 2015

2016: The "Liberty Bell" skillet

Cracker Barrel 2016

2017: The "Abraham Lincoln" skillet

Cracker Barrel 2017

2018: The "Mount Rushmore" skillet

Cracker Barrel 2018

2019: "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" skillet

Cracker Barrel 2019

2020: The "George Washington" skillet

Cracker Barrel 2020

2021: The "United We Stand" skillet

Cracker Barrel 2021

2022: The "Lady Liberty" skillet, a.k.a. "Walking Liberty"

Cracker Barrel 2022

In 2022, Cracker Barrel named this design “Lady Liberty.” The design is actually based upon the “Walking Liberty” United States 50 cent coin from the early 20th century. As with the Buffalo Nickel skillet, if this new pan is based upon the design of the coin then the image is not copyrighted because it is a production of the United States government. However, unlike the Buffalo Nickel skillet, Lodge did not re-release this pan after the Cracker Barrel series sold out. (The pan is copyrighted by Lodge, but Lodge won't have to pay royalties to the US Government…or to Cracker Barrel, if they keep producing it after it sells out at Cracker Barrel.)

2023: The "Great Seal" 12-inch skillet

Cracker Barrel 2023 12 inch

In 2023, Cracker Barrel re-released a skillet design from a previous year for the first time. The 2023 "American Heritage" skillet used the same design as the 2015 "Great Seal" skillet – but this year, it was available as a 12 inch skillet rather than the 10 inch size of previous years. They presented a polished skillet with this design to Jeff Rogers ("The Culinary Fanatic") with this statement: “This year’s Cracker Barrel American Heritage Skillet features the United States Seal. The 10.25” version of this design was their most popular ever, and this beautiful 12” version – their most popular size – has now become the latest installment in the series." If this is so, I wonder if future pans in the series will also be in the 12 inch size only.

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