14 Photos Of Random Things That Are The Oldest Of Their Kind

1.Recently, I went down a Google rabbit hole and ended up on the world's oldest bottle of wine. It's the Speyer wine bottle excavated from a Roman tomb in Germany. It's estimated to be 1,680 years old.

  dpa picture alliance archive / Alamy Stock Photo
dpa picture alliance archive / Alamy Stock Photo

It got me thinking...what are other "oldest" things? Let's find out!

2.The oldest sourdough starter still alive is said to belong to San Francisco's Boudin bakery, which has made its sourdough from the same starter for 177 years.

bakery wall full of bread
Tasfoto / Alamy Stock Photo

3.The oldest restaurant in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records is Casa Botín in Madrid, Spain which has been operating since 1725.

restaurant front with an awning
Diego Grandi / Alamy Stock Photo

4.The oldest bookstore is in the neighboring country of Portugal. It's called Bertrand Booksellers and has been open since 1732.

store front
imageBROKER / Alamy Stock Photo

5.Scientists believe the oldest living organism is a tree nicknamed Methuselah in the US. It will be 4,854 years old in 2023. Its precise location is kept under wraps to protect it.

twisted tree with no leaves i
Anadolu Agency / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

6.The oldest hotel is an inn in Japan named The Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan. It has been open since 705 AD and has been run by the same family for 52 generations.

4 storied hotel along the bottom of a mountain

7.The oldest roller coaster was built in 1902 and is still running today. It's a wooden coaster called Leap the Dips at Lakemont Park in Pennsylvania.

roller coaster

8.The oldest functioning clock is at least 637 years old and sits at Salisbury Cathedral in the UK. It doesn't have a face and instead strikes on the hour.

clock inside a building in a case that says to keep away
Epics / Getty Images

9.The oldest confirmed violin in the world was made around 1565. Here's a video of a violin from 1566 being played (just so you can get a feel of the sound).

10.The oldest golf course in the world is the Old Course at Saint Andrews Links in Scotland. It was played first in 1552!

aerial view of the course

11.The oldest potted plant was brought to the UK from South Africa and planted in 1775. It's a prickly cycad currently on display at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Surrey. It's the last of its kind! Here is a photo of it and its keeper.

man standing in front of the tree that's inside a green house

12.The world's oldest edible ham was cured in 1902 and is housed in Smithfield, Virginia. On July 8, the town throws a birthday party for the ham every year.

shriveled old ham with a gold tag

13.The oldest known jeans were pulled from a trunk in a shipwreck. The ship sank in 1857, so historians know the jeans are at least 166 years old.

old jeans with damage on a table
Jason Bean / AP

14.Finally, I'm not sure if it's the oldest, but it's too impressive to mention: There has been a pot of stew simmering in Bangkok for over 45 years! Every night a little broth comes out so the pot can be cleaned, and ingredients are replenished as needed. Amazing!

huge pot of stew in a kitchen