Brian Butko to speak at Fallingwater

Brian Butko, the historian and co-author of Roadside Attractions, will speak at Fallingwater at 2 p.m. on May 23, 2008. Butko will offer a delightful look at the wild, wacky roadside businesses and larger-than-life creations that enliven roadtrips. The cost is $10 per person, which includes a Fallingwater Grounds Pass, or $5 if purchased with any other Fallingwater tour. Proceeds will benefit the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor (LHHC) and Fallingwater.

Butko's books have a theme − to document people, places, and things that go mostly unnoticed by other historians, such as giant Paul Bunyan statues, diners and their neon signs, old gas stations and drive-in theaters.

“There are still lots of loveable roadside attractions, from well-known stops like Wall Drug and South of the Border, to mom-and-pop mini-golfs and tourist cabins, many of them in or near Western Pennsylvania, ” Butko said.

Roadside Attractions, co-authored by Butko’s wife Sarah, celebrates the one-of-a-kind roadside attractions created between 1920 to 1970, when the automobile era began to take shape across our national landscape. In the book, more than 50 fellow travelers offer stories about their favorite attractions − among them artist John Baeder, filmmaker Rick Sebak, archeological historian Alan Hess, TV’s Survivor champion Amber Mariano and travel writers from across the country.

In reviewing the book, the Washington Examiner noted , “If I were going on such a [road] trip now, I would definitely want Roadside Attractions on the car seat beside me. Brian and Sarah retain convincingly infectious enthusiasm about the things that make a road trip so appealing.... [And] it’s a great book simply to sit down with and read, remember and dream. “

The event will be co-hosted with the LHHC. Items from the Lincoln Highway will be available for purchase the day of the event, and Butko will be available to autograph copies of his books.

Butko is a longtime board member of the Society for Commercial Archeology, and was a founding director of the Lincoln Highway Association. On weekdays, he edits Western Pennsylvania History magazine at the Senator John Heinz History Center.

For reservations, please call Fallingwater at 724-329-1441, ext. 1107.

Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway

Pittsburgh’s 250th Birthday Bash will be big.
And so will the Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway!

Roadside Giants (you know, those super-sized early 20th century buildings like Bedford, PA’s Coffee Pot) are synonymous with any road trip along the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. The RoadsideAmerica.com website identifies lots of other roadside attractions that beckon motorists to see “the world’s largest this or that or the world’s smallest . . .” Doug Kirby who runs that website has his own top ten list; with the Toilet Seat Museum in the San Antonio, Texas garage of former master plumber Barney Smith just squeaking by as Number 10. Brian and Sarah Butko, authors of two books on the subject (Roadside Giants and Roadside Attractions), named The Big Duck as one of their picks. Built in 1931 in Flanders, New York the 20-foot high concrete duck seemed to be the perfect draw for Martin Maurer to sell duck eggs in the Big Duck’s belly!

But while some are slowly disappearing because of an ownership transfer or required maintenance, there are other areas of the country (in Pennsylvania) and the world (in Beijing) where more and more landscape sculptures and roadside giants will be appearing in the next several months. Visitors to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing will be entertained by 300 new landscape sculptures that will dot the Olympic Village and surrounding area.

And this fall, motorists along the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor in PA will be amazed at local Vo-Tech students’ creativity and skills as five new Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway will appear. Coordinated by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, students in five different Career and Technology Schools are each designing their own Roadside Giant. After graphic arts students have designed the “giant”; it will be up to the welding students to bend, cut and mold sheets of steel and iron to give the giant its shape. Building trade students will take on the task of installation, under the watchful eye of a structural engineer. Horticulture students have the option of doing some minor landscaping around the base of the giant sculpture. Last, but certainly not least, the culinary arts students will put their skills to work by creating their own giant cake in the shape of the Roadside Giant. This delicious work of art will be shared with the community at the dedication celebration. Once all five Roadside Giants have been installed, information and photos about the project will be posted on the website as well as in a printed brochure.

A critical component of this project is the community connection that will take place between the students and each of the five Community Committees. Students will pitch their ideas to the Committee and together they will select the giant from one of the following themes: Vintage Vehicle; Recognizable Historical Figure; Lincoln Highway-era Figure; Vintage Bicycle; or Vintage Gas Pump. For some meetings, students will meet in the community; for others, the Community Committee will come to the Career and Technology Centers.

The grant application submitted by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor was one of 230 regional grant applications received by The Sprout Fund of the Community Connections ~ Pittsburgh 250th group. Only twelve were selected to be implemented. The Sprout Fund (founded in 2001) is a nonprofit organization supporting innovative ideas and grassroots community projects that are catalyzing change in Pittsburgh. Community Connections is a grassroots initiative of Pittsburgh 250 supporting projects that encourage civic engagement throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania, commemorating the region’s 250th anniversary.

One or two roadside giants may appear by the end of this school year, but all must be installed by December 1, 2008. For more information, visit www.LHHC.org and click on Highway News.

Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor Receives Archive Funding

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission awarded $5,855 to the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor for archives work. The grant will assist with the arranging, describing, processing, scanning and entering of historical information into a specific archival software program. The Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor had to provide matching funds. When completed, this information will be available to the public for private research.

New Lincoln Highway Businesses

Several new businesses have sprouted along the Lincoln Highway –
The site of the former Shawnee Inn in Schellsburg, Bedford County, has been remodeled; it is now the Fireside Inn.

In McConnellsburg, Fulton County, check out three new spots: Fulton Friars (a café located in the old Log Cabin Coffee Shop); Summer Thyme Floral (located in the old Stoner’s Building); and Boar’s End.

At Reel’s Corner in Somerset County, the former Adele’s Diner is now the Heritage Highway Restaurant.

On Pitt Street in Bedford, check out Lifestyle – Living Italian Food e Style.