Back Roads, Charming Towns : Retirement, Relocation, Vacation : Back Roads, Charming Towns Blog : Vikki Grodner

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PA: Travelling the Dutch Country of Pennsylvania on Highway 22 near Hershey, an unusual sign catches your eye around the borough of Shartlesville. “Roadside America Exit Here” it quietly beckons. Always a glutton for “out-of-the-ordinary” attractions, I found the allure too much to resist – I had to explore further. Pulling into the driveway and crossing the attraction's threshold, I had some initial reservations. After all, this was about as 1950s, Americana kitschy as it gets. And yet something made me stay.

Roadside America is the ultimate roadside tourist attraction. It is not a destination in and of itself (although for one family this was not the case – more on that later) but rather a diversion in one’s travels. And yet it is just this sort of place that truly showcases the creativity of some Americans.

(And down the road is Ina Stoudt's not-to-be-missed antique store, crammmed to several sets of rafters with antique and vintage furnishings, household decorative items, unique tchotchkes and eclectic vintage clothing.) 

In this case, it was Laurence Gieringer, who as a child thought that buildings viewed from his bedroom window were toy structures. Enchanted by this vision throughout childhood, at 16 Gieringer began to create his own "toy buildings," whittling the tiny village from chunks of wood. His hobby continued for more than 60 years, resulting in the elements that are today on display at Roadside America.

The most accurate way to describe Roadside America may be a miniature train village on steroids, ambitiously depicting over 200 years of Americana. Or as the amusement describes itself: "it is not one village, but many . . . the American countryside as it might be seen by a giant so huge that he could see from coast to coast."

Flo, a charming grandmotherly type, greets guests and provides an in-the-know historical perspective on the exhibit. She has been working at Roadside America off and on a total of 22 years, for the first time in the 1950s. Make sure to stay for the light show, she knowingly suggests as guests enter.

The mere size of the display is truly breathtaking, taking up virtually every inch of a 6,000-square-foot warehouse, The exhibit fascinates not only because of its beautiful, to-scale miniatures, but also due to its symphony of motion and imagery. Trains snake through tunnels and over the terrain. A movie theater marquee blinks the latest show. Church bells peal. A grist mill grinds imaginary grain.

On this day, three generations of one family have traveled three hours to visit Roadside. In fact, grandsons David, 5 and Christopher, 13, were in all the way from Florida. It had been 30 years since the grandpaqrents had visited Roadside America, but they were determined to share the experience with the younger generation. David ran from one portion of the display to another pointing excitedly with each new discovery. Chris, cooler at 13, nevertheless seemed enthralled in that noncommittal, teenage way.

Together, we all watched the captivating, closing light show. In it, the village goes from the dusk of evening into twilight, all activity coming to a halt overnight, as the hymn "Now The Day is Over" plays hauntingly in the background. As the new day dawns, the Statue of Liberty is illuminated in New York Harbor to strains of "God Bless America." And to this I say, God bless the ingenuity and drive of Americans like Laurence Gieringer and his Roadside America.

Just The Facts