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All the United States Pennsylvania Shartlesville Roadside America
Roadside America is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Roadside America

An indoor miniature village and labor of love for Laurence Geiringer, a model railroad enthusiast.

Shartlesville, Pennsylvania

Added By
Joseph Hedden
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Buttons are placed around the perimeter for visitors to control the movement of various things.   Cali Buckley / Atlas Obscura User
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About

At Roadside America, perhaps best described as a cross between outsider art and a model railroad convention, visitors are treated to mid-20th century model neighborhoods and railroads where a simulated Sun sets every half-hour or so with a stirring rendition of "God Bless America."

The entire tiny world is the lifetime work of Laurence Geiringer who first developed his love for miniatures in 1899. As the story goes, when he was five, Geiringer could see the lights of a distant hotel from his bedroom window. The hotel looked like a toy that he could grab and add to his toy collection. His passion stoked, Geiringer spent the next 60 years collecting and building one miniature model after another until his ever-growing village became a veritable city and eventually took on a life of its own. 

In the early 1940s, with interest in his project attracting local attention, Geiringer moved the collection out of his home and into a warehouse-sized building nearby. As the model collection continued to grow, the attraction was moved again in 1953 to its current location alongside Interstate 78 in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania, promising a kitschy dose of mid-century Americana to generations of passing travelers.

The current exhibition, maintained just as Geiringer left it when he died in 1963, now covers 7,450 square feet of real estate, all fully landscaped in miniature. The display includes 18 trains and trolleys, utilizes 21,500 feet of wiring, and portrays 4,000 tiny little people going about their business in the little town that Laurence Geiringer built.

Related Tags

Collections Miniatures Small Worlds And Model Towns

Know Before You Go

Roadside America is located off Exit 23 of Interstate 78. Follow the signs along Mountain Road, turn right onto Old U.S. 22, and then right again onto Roadside Drive.

Community Contributors

Added By

impossiblesoul

Edited By

chody007dv, dlc31723, Cali Buckley

  • chody007dv
  • dlc31723
  • Cali Buckley

Published

May 15, 2013

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Sources
  • http://www.roadsideamerica.co/history/
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_America
Roadside America
109 Roadside Dr
P.O. Box 2
Shartlesville, Pennsylvania, 19554
United States
40.512701, -76.121284
Visit Website
Get Directions

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