Roadside America
Roadside America was an indoor miniature village and railway covering . Created by Laurence Gieringer in 1935, it was first displayed to the public in his Hamburg, Pennsylvania, home. The miniature village's popularity increased after stories were published about it in local newspapers, which prompted Gieringer to move it to a recently-closed local amusement park called Carsonia Park. This location, which supported more visitors, was open from 1938 to about 1940. To accommodate growing interest and build a larger display, Geringer then purchased land at what would be the miniature village's final location, a former dance  hall in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania off of Interstate 78, approximately west of the Lehigh Valley, where the display reopened in 1953. After being closed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Roadside America announced on November 21, 2020, that they were closing permanently after trying, unsuccessfully, to find a buyer for the past three years, and that they would be auctioning off the display. The display. The 3/8 inch to one foot scale display contains: The display is constructed with: Roadside America remained unchanged since Gieringer died in 1963.