By Jeff Tang
CULLEOKA, Tenn. - Inside Charles Hubbell's garage, you'll find the largest collection of coffee cups you've ever seen.
"This is where I started with hanging 16 cups. It looked so good I just kept going," laughed Hubbell.
For the past four years, Hubbell has been hanging thousands of cups at his home. There are three rows devoted to Christmas. You'll find tiny mugs, enormous mugs, mugs with holes in them.
It wasn't long before the family ran out of room in the garage.
Charles' tobacco barn now holds most of the collection. Four generations of Hubbells help stow away the mugs, using rebar, ropes and buckets. Charles writes on a frayed piece of cardboard to keep track of them all.
"That's where we've stopped, 16,205," he said.
But most shocked visitors have one main question to ask, why?
"Just one of those things," said Charles with a laugh.
The Hubbells have no goal, no aspiration, no real reason to collect mugs, other than the fact that doing it makes them happy. What other reason do you need?
"It's a hobby no one else has. Something you'd never think would be fun to do that is pretty fun to do," said grandson Jason.
"It's something we like to do. It does us good to get out and collect them," said Charles.
The family has contacted the Guinness book of world records about their collection, and believe theirs is the largest around. The problem? It hasn't been easy convincing them to come out to Culleoka to verify the authenticity of their collection.
By the way, the family doesn't take just any kind of cup. Of all 16,000 mugs in the Hubbell's collection, not a single one is made of plastic.
Email: jtang@newschannel5.com
