I looked up a brief history of US Highway 1 as a result of your post. For such a long highway, from Key West FL to Fort Kent ME, I've never traveled on it.
Stephen King wrote a book about it, using his Richard Bachman pseudonym, in 1979. The plot is a dystopian future with contestants required to continuously walk on US Hwy 1, starting in Maine, with the winner being the only contestant still alive.
I even looked up the landmarks that you mentioned from your trip and found this photo from 1960 of Shorty's Motel, which is apparently long out of business.
Very sad to read about the segregation rules that you witnessed, despite me being long-aware of that sort of thing.
My family stopped at a fast food joint in Tennessee back in the 70's, before drive-thru's were more common, and my Dad stomped out of there without any food. He said the black customer in front of him was told that he couldn't eat inside the place with his family. He could order food, but would need to eat it outside. So Dad decided to not give them his business, and we continued driving for many more miles before finally getting some burgers in Kentucky somewhere.
Your memory is great! I couldn't begin to name most of the businesses from my old family vacations! I can sometimes remember the names of tourist spots, like caverns or whatever we visited for awhile, but that's about it. On the other hand, those landmarks might've been like oases on a mostly desolate road for you, making them easier to stick in your mind.
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