Given the adorably contradictory title of "World's Largest Miniature Village" by the Guinness Book of World Records, Miniature Village is a manditory stop for anyone with the good fortune of finding themselves in Shartlesville, PA off the I-78.
Laurence Gierenger started building the village in the early 30s after realizing he had a fascination with small things because- this is amazing- as a boy he thought that distant buildings were actually tiny and didnt realize that they were simply really, really far away. It also inlcudes a "night pageant" every half hour with projected images of Jesus with the American flag and a very tinny sounding God Bless America. There are over 1000 handcarved trees, and hundreds of moving parts- this photo doesnt do Miniature Village justice in the least.
its seriously far out!!
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there's really a place called Shartlesville? Funny. A "shartle" is what we call the unfortunate occurance when someone frightens you and you shart your pants. Good times.
ReplyDeleteminiature heaven! i must visit!
ReplyDelete"He had a fascination with small things..." GOD BLESS AMERICAN, amen.
ReplyDeleteWhen maximalism meets the microscopic!
ReplyDeletewow. i did not know about this guy. I have to check this place out...for some reason it makes me think of the legendary bruce bickford and the miniature claymation sets he created for frank zappa's films. A great doc on bruce: "monster road".
ReplyDeletethanks for the inspiration.
cheers,
2or3
i've been here, and it's amazing. completely worth the admission fee. then at the end of the "show" a cross and an american flag on one end of the wall light up. it's huge though, about the size of a small warehouse.
ReplyDeleteI've actually been there, and it's really called Roadside America. It truly is amazing. It comes with a brochure full of malarkey about how the creator was inspired to create it when he climbed a high tree as a child and saw the way his hometown looked in miniature...or something.
ReplyDeleteEither way, great. I'm so happy to see this blogged about.
i've been here, and it's amazing. completely worth the admission fee. then at the end of the "show" a cross and an american flag on one end of the wall light up. it's huge though, about the size of a small warehouse.
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