Roadside America
add photosSummer Hours- July through Labor Day
Daily 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Weekends 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Closed Christmas Day
3 Reviews for Roadside America
125
49
'10, '11, '12
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"America in Miniature"
Roadside America is literally America in miniature. This is a very large display with scenes depicting American life. It would be easy to miss some of the great details so I love that you are provided with a numbered guide and as you walk through the display the numbers correspond with different scenes. Every few feet there is an interactive button so that you can have a part in operating the display and this really helps keep the kids involved.
I recommend walking around twice. The first time through walk along at the display level and read through the guide. The second time around, walk on one of the higher levels. It gives you a different perspective and allows you to see some things you may not have seen standing up so close to it.
Don't leave without seeing nighttime fall. Approximately every half hour you will hear an announcement to gather at the back of the display. The lights will dim, the music starts playing and the buildings in the display are illuminated giving yet one more view and perspective of this miniature world.
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"A Timeless Classic- Route 66-Esque Stop Along Your Travels"
When I was little, my dad took us to this total Route 66-esque attraction called Roadside America. Simply put, Roadside America is a GIGANTIC sprawling model of a miniature town and surrounding countryside/suburbia. Built by Laurence Gieringer and first displayed in 1953, this intricate display depicts life in America- from the early pioneer days up through the 1950s (or “present day” when the model was completed).
We visited Roadside America with my Dad various times, and I loved hearing that Biker Bob had been there as a kid too- with his grandparents.
Two of the coolest things about Roadside America: the entire display features a new button every few feet that visitors can press and operate part of the model. One button might move a train, another a street car. There are buttons that move kids on a playground, coal cars through a mine and circus animals around their performance ring.
The other highlight happens on every half hour: the entire town goes to “sleep.” Set to the tune of The Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America, you stand and watch the lights (er, the sun) go down and the houses illuminate. As the music swells, the “sun” begins to rise and the town wakes up- more lights come on, then go off as the day arrives. The best viewing point for the “nighttime” is definitely up on the observation deck- it’s the perfect bird’s eye view!
Roadside America is definitely not a wallet breaker: adults get in for just $6.75, children are $3.75, and the under 5 crowd is FREE.
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"Fun with the Family"
One of our readers wrote us a letter suggesting that we include a favorite destination of her family, Roadside America. This unique indoor miniature village is a wonderful piece of Americana. One man, Laurence Gieringer, created this scale model during more than sixty years of meticulous work. There are trains chugging through tunnels and over bridges, a gristmill, a trolley, and even a tiny fountain in the miniature zoo.
Young children may have to be lifted up to see some of the displays, but they’ll love it anyhow.
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