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Roadside America

As anyone who reads this site has probably noticed, I hold in a heartfelt admiration for eccentric obsessives. This reverence is a longstanding trait of my own personality. My earliest memory of this comes from my first visit to Shartlesville PA’s “Roadside America.”

Roadside America is the batshit crazy, 6 decade long project of a very strange and wonderful man. Starting near the turn of the 20th century, carpenter and painter Laurence Gieringer began building a model village at a 3/8” to a foot scale. Over time, the village grew into a landscape and eventually into a representative model of more than 3 centuries of American life.

As a small child, Roadside America made more of an impression on me than the Grand Canyon and the Hearst Castle combined. Put simply, it was amazing.

This weekend I was driving on I-78 near Reading, and after seeing a billboard I decided on a whim to stop. I was reluctant, thinking that I’d be wasting my time and assuming that now that I’m older and wiser the place wouldn’t hold the same charm.

I was completely wrong. If anything, my appreciation for the beautiful insanity that is Roadside America has only grown. In honor of this, I present to you the most comprehensive photoessay of strange creation currently on the internet. Enjoy:

the unassuming exterior

and here it is

in a little closer

and closer

and up very close, here’s a sawmill operated by one of the many buttons found on the exterior of the exhibit.

one of those buttons.

A 20th century town in the southwestern corner

a street in that town.

downtown

A 19th century town in the northeastern corner.

some dutch country visitors.

waterfalll

mountainside home.

handpainted stained glass.

iron bridge

every half hour or so, night falls.

The End