1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, production of iHeart Radio. Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, It's safe to say the Atlanta is 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: a fairly American place. It's the home of Coca Cola, 4 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: the Ebenezer Baptist Church where Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Preached, 5 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:20,640 Speaker 1: and the house where Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone with the Wind. 6 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 1: The city is both the gateway to the South and 7 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: itself a big old hunk of Americana pie. And just 8 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:31,640 Speaker 1: a ninety minute drive north in the Chattahoochee National Forest 9 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: section of the Appalachians sits another Georgia town, teeming with 10 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 1: a certain distinct national aesthetic. Helen Georgia is more of 11 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: a nod to the German Alps than a testament to 12 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: the Red, white, and Blue. But it's sprouted up as 13 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: a result of a very American instinct capitalism. We spoke 14 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: with one Matt Getney, the author of the Story of 15 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 1: Helen Georgia, a book chronicling the town's history. He said, 16 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: we have basically no cultural authenticity. When the thing was started, 17 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 1: it was purely a marketing scheme. Okay, So this little 18 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: Alpine town, complete with pretzel shops, beer halls, and blacksmiths 19 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,480 Speaker 1: did not rise from the Appalachians on the facts of 20 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: Northern European immigrants who wanted to celebrate their Old World 21 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,960 Speaker 1: heritage and culture. Instead, it was a couple of local 22 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and a creative sketch artist who dreamed up the 23 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 1: village as a way to create some buzz and draw 24 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: in some tourist dollars. Still, this faux Bavarian village looks 25 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: enough like the real thing, thanks to a smartly appointed 26 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:38,839 Speaker 1: mountain esthetic that was decades in the making. Annual German 27 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 1: inspired events like Octoberfest and a European car show also helped, 28 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: and perhaps that's why every year, under normal circumstances, hordes 29 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: of visitors wander their way into White County, Georgia for 30 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: a little slice of Bavaria. And weirdly, Helen is not 31 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: the only town in the United States that aims to 32 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: recreate the Old Country. There are at least a handful 33 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: of European replica towns spanning the US, from Leavenworth, Washington's 34 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: Bavarian vibe to Little Switzerland, North Carolina's Swiss Alpine esthetic. 35 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,959 Speaker 1: Each has its own unique story, but all of them 36 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: have been attracting tourists for decades. They all go for 37 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: a nostalgic take on Northern European nations, perhaps because they 38 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: are also located in mountainous areas, and also because of 39 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: the timing of immigrant waves intersecting with the new found 40 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: love of travel in the nineteen fifties, thanks to America's 41 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:38,799 Speaker 1: burgeoning car culture. Take Solvang, California, which draws inspiration from 42 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: the North Sea nations. The Danish inspired village and its 43 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: assortment of windmills popped up near the southern California coast 44 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 1: after three Danish teachers struck out to establish a community 45 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:53,240 Speaker 1: for their compatriots in nineteen eleven. They also created a 46 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: folk school to teach area kids about reading, writing, and arithmetic, 47 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: as well as the basics of Danish culture. Solvang remained 48 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,399 Speaker 1: fairly insulated until the nineteen forties, when the media began 49 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:08,920 Speaker 1: to take notice. In the Saturday Evening Post ran a 50 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:14,079 Speaker 1: feature boasting about the town's annual Danish Days celebration. We 51 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,800 Speaker 1: also spoke with Ester Jacobson Bates, the executive director of 52 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:22,560 Speaker 1: Solvang's Elvar Joy Museum. She said people started coming looking 53 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,920 Speaker 1: for that Danish culture, so the local businessmen decided to 54 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: come together collectively and create this plan that the downtown 55 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:31,959 Speaker 1: area would have new buildings built in a Danish style 56 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: and existing buildings would transition from Western to Danish fronts. 57 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,560 Speaker 1: Like Helen. Solvang's provincial look may have been developed in 58 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: response to business interests, but Bates says the town is 59 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: still rooted in Danish culture and that the cultural links 60 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: to Denmark remain strong. That includes regular visits from Danish 61 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: royalty and ambassadors, as well as a student exchange program. 62 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: Wine lovers and sinophiles alike may recognize Solvang and the 63 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: surrounding area as the set for the two thousand four 64 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: Academy Award winning film Sideways. Solvings is a similar story 65 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: to the one behind Franken Muth Michigan, also known by 66 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: locals as Little Bavaria, a small batch of Lutheran missionaries 67 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: from Germany established the town in eighteen forty four. The 68 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: settlement served as a fairly insular community for German immigrants 69 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:23,359 Speaker 1: until after World War Two, when interstate highways in the 70 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 1: infrastructure boom made it easier to reach the mouth from 71 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 1: nearby cities like Detroit. Today, the town welcomes about three 72 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 1: million tourists per year to its German style village. Franken 73 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 1: Muth's annual bavarian Fest may be the biggest event on 74 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:41,679 Speaker 1: the local calendar, but like any self respecting Alpine town, 75 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: it also celebrates october Fest each year. Visitors can expect 76 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: lots and lots of pretzels, if not that many German accents. 77 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Chris Opfer and produced by 78 00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. For more in this lots of other curious 79 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: top X, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff 80 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:04,840 Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio. 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