Auction for Roadside America’s mini-village items opens Dec. 28
From the large, outdoor sculpture of an Amish couple on a bench to the scale models of buildings, bridges and more — the upcoming Roadside America auction will offer memorabilia buffs or antique hunters plenty to search.
Bidding will start at 9 a.m. Dec. 28 on the thousands of items from Roadside America’s miniature village and the adjacent Pennsylvania Dutch Gift Haus near Shartlesville, Berks County, auctioneer Bill Howze said Monday. The bidding is scheduled to end 6 p.m. Jan. 24, but Howze said that is subject to change.
Howze, owner of Renaissance Auction Group in Reading, and Roadside America’s owners have posted details on their social media pages about the auction. The public sale does not include the property that housed Roadside America and a next-door gift shop, which is part of a pending real estate deal.
While the new owner has not been named, Roadside America’s family owners have said the buyer’s plans do not include running the miniature village that mesmerized thousands of visitors.
Roadside America, a northern Berks attraction billed as the “World’s Greatest Indoor Miniature Village,” announced Nov. 21 on Facebook that it would permanently close after 85 years. That came after the owners had shut it down temporarily March 17, shortly after the coronavirus pandemic began in Pennsylvania.
Off Interstate 78 in Upper Bern Township, slightly more
than 20 miles from the Lehigh County line, Roadside America’s 8,000-square-foot village and railway model depicted life in an American town. The model presented figures ranging from the early pioneer days through the mid-20th century, with more than 300 buildings, hundreds of people and thousands of trees. A neighboring building also had a gift shop filled with Pennsylvania Dutch folk art and memorabilia.
The items to be auctioned are still being cataloged and readied for viewing and selling, Howze said. He anticipates there will be about 600 lots, each with an opening $5 bid. He also said a separate auction in 2021 will include the model trains, cars and other “rolling stock.”
For more information, go to gotoauction.com/sales/ view/252892.html. Anyone needing assistance with registering or bidding can call 610-3702879.
Roadside America’s owners, including its president, Dolores Heinsohn, searched for a buyer for nearly three years, hoping to find someone willing to continue the business. But none of the interested parties over the years was committed to moving forward with the village.
Heinsohn is the granddaughter of Laurence T. Gieringer, who meticulously crafted the pint-size wonderland enjoyed by tens of thousands of people over the years.
Real estate broker Marshall Lytle, who has been marketing Roadside America and its neighboring properties since early 2018, did not return an email seeking comment on the buyer. A listing on his firm’s website listed the status on the listing as “pending” as of Monday.