Roadside America, Shartlesville PA

Laurence Grieringer spent 60 years building what has become known as Roadside America. He became pretty obsessed with building his miniature town.

On a personal level, I am a bit jealous of him. I think many guys think it would be fun to build a miniature city. I have built a few HO scale buildings myself over the years, and I do hope someday to have the space and time to work on an actual small city and train lay out.

It looks like Laurence spent his time going the scratch building way, making and designing his own buildings in the Reading PA area.

In some ways, Roadside America is very easy to describe. It is in a big room arranged in a big square with room to walk all the way around the miniature city.

It is much more complicated than that. There are many buttons to push which prompts certain things to happen on the layout. Farmers work, people dance, and vehicles move.

Every half an hour there is a light show, as the city goes through a day cycle. American images are projected on a wall as patriotic music plays. I know many people might think it sounds cheesy, but it is authentic cheesy. I have heard the display has been part of Roadside America for decades. Even if you are not one to wear a red white and blue shirt on the 4th, this will bring a tear to your eye. It might be too Mayberry for some, but it is real, and it is sincere. I told the very polite lady working there that I enjoyed the show part of it, and she seemed to take pride in it being a part of Roadside America.

I took a lot of pictures during my trip to Roadside America, but, like many other great roadside attractions, my pictures are not a fair representation. It is easy to show a detailed photo of one or two of the buildings, or one photo of as much of the layout as I can fit in one picture, but there is so much more going on.

The attraction dates back to the 40s and it has remained pretty much unchanged since the passing of its creator in the early 1960s. There are no real digital enhancements, and even it's web presence is minimal (see their web site).

So, the next time you are driving through Pennsylvania, try to make sure you stop at Roadside America. Check out Laurence Grieringer's creation, and enjoy the fact that such a town still exists.
http://www.roadsideamericainc.com/