Roadside America

Saturday was a much better day.  The weather man was predicting rain so we took the truck down some country roads to a little town called Stouchsburg.  Duane was looking for a cemetery where one of his ancestors is buried.  We didn't think to take a pic of the town until later when I noticed an anomaly.  The town was very small, basically one main road with a few cross streets.  It consists entirely of houses--no businesses of any kind.  We noticed an old cemetery where we entered the town so we looked there.  The graves dated from the early 1800's but most of the stones were worn and unreadable.  Duane said it was not the right one anyway.  We asked in town and were pointed in the opposite directions and there it was.  By then we had time for only a cursory look, so we decided to do more research and try later if we had time.  From there we drove to:

This is the result of a boyhood dream that turned into a big hobby.  Two brothers, Paul and Laurence (10 years old, Paul was older) Gieringer conceived the idea of building a miniature town, and worked in their basement carving, painting and assembling each piece over 7 years before Paul left home.  Laurence continued his hobby for over 60 years.  Each year at Christmas he would assemble part of his village for his children.  In 1935 the local newspaper wrote a feature story about it and interest grew.  A local company donated the use of its building for the display with all earnings going to local charities.  The Gieringer exhibit officially became a public display.  Laurence was still adding to it and it traded homes twice more before it found its present home in Shartlesville.  All of the pieces are hand carved by Laurence and Paul.  Laurence made the stained glass.  His wife Dora made the shrubbery and trees and their children did detail work and figure painting.

The display consists of a town shown in different time periods from pioneer log cabins to modern homes and businesses and cars.  Several trains also represent the different time periods.  A lot of the pieces have historical significance.  The large building on the right is a mountain resort called Paul Revere Tavern which stood near Moston Mass and was destroyed by fire in 1849.  The observation tower represents the first one built by Union troops on the Tennessee Mountains in 1862.

Many displays have moving parts.  There are buttons to push to make these things move.  Of course there are buttons for each of the trains and the trolley.  In this zoo the little elephant in the doorway rears on its hind legs.

The first part of the display is the modern one.

This cathedral has 44 hand painted windows.  It required 400 hours to make.

Modern downtown shopping district.  The white building on the left is a department store.

The Barnum & Bailey Circus's last rehearsal before loading to tour the nation.  A button puts the parade in motion.

Early oil bell and pumping station,

American farm at the turn of the 19th century.

Shrine Church is a replica of a memorial chapel with beautiful stained glass windows in the Alps.   American churches are copied from it.  Note the cemetery plots on the left.

Sleepy Hollow, an American village of the 1800's.

The trolley line makes regular trips from the village to the summer resort on the Hill.  Automobiles and Fishing not permitted on Sundays.

Blacksmith shop and waterway of the old Union Canal

Country barn dance.  A button makes the circular platform spin and the people dance.

Blacksmith shop in the pioneer village of the early 1700's.  A button makes the blacksmith use his hammer.

In the country old mud roads were impassable many times of the year.  Note the early car on the hilside, mired in mud.

Overview of the display.  The blue line on the right is an upper level observation deck.  The back wall is a mirror.  This shows the paths of some of the many roads and railroads.  These pix represent just a tiny fraction of the thousands of pieces in this display.

Display of old trains for my train loving family members.

This old steamboat was used as an advertisement for the Steamboat Restaurant.  The restaurant is not in the steamboat.  Duane thought it was cool.  Makes you want to tour it doesn't it!

Our tour complete, we headed for Lebanon and church, then home.

Next--chocolate!

Louise and Duane