Carnation, WA

The pastoral panorama of Carnation is home to the Carnation Research Farm, and the statue of an exceptional cow. Segis Pietertje Prospect -- known to her personal milker as "Possum Sweetheart" -- in 1920 obliterated the single cow world record for milk produced by pumping out 37,361 pounds of milk (The average cow at the time produced only 4,000). It was a vindication for Carnation Farm's experimental "contented cows" project. Possum Sweetheart became a celebrity, was visited by the rich and powerful (including heavyweight boxing champ Jack Dempsey), then died in 1925.

Three years later the Farm erected a life-size statue of her at its entrance, its plaque declaring that cows, "Nobly deserve the title, 'Foster Mothers of the Human Race.'"