WEBVTT - What's Up With America's European Replica Towns?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, production of iHeart Radio. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, It's safe to say the Atlanta is

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<v Speaker 1>a fairly American place. It's the home of Coca Cola,

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<v Speaker 1>the Ebenezer Baptist Church where Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Preached,

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<v Speaker 1>and the house where Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone with the Wind.

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<v Speaker 1>The city is both the gateway to the South and

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<v Speaker 1>itself a big old hunk of Americana pie. And just

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<v Speaker 1>a ninety minute drive north in the Chattahoochee National Forest

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<v Speaker 1>section of the Appalachians sits another Georgia town, teeming with

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<v Speaker 1>a certain distinct national aesthetic. Helen Georgia is more of

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<v Speaker 1>a nod to the German Alps than a testament to

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<v Speaker 1>the Red, white, and Blue. But it's sprouted up as

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<v Speaker 1>a result of a very American instinct capitalism. We spoke

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<v Speaker 1>with one Matt Getney, the author of the Story of

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<v Speaker 1>Helen Georgia, a book chronicling the town's history. He said,

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<v Speaker 1>we have basically no cultural authenticity. When the thing was started,

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<v Speaker 1>it was purely a marketing scheme. Okay, So this little

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<v Speaker 1>Alpine town, complete with pretzel shops, beer halls, and blacksmiths

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<v Speaker 1>did not rise from the Appalachians on the facts of

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<v Speaker 1>Northern European immigrants who wanted to celebrate their Old World

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<v Speaker 1>heritage and culture. Instead, it was a couple of local

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<v Speaker 1>entrepreneurs and a creative sketch artist who dreamed up the

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<v Speaker 1>village as a way to create some buzz and draw

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<v Speaker 1>in some tourist dollars. Still, this faux Bavarian village looks

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<v Speaker 1>enough like the real thing, thanks to a smartly appointed

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<v Speaker 1>mountain esthetic that was decades in the making. Annual German

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<v Speaker 1>inspired events like Octoberfest and a European car show also helped,

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<v Speaker 1>and perhaps that's why every year, under normal circumstances, hordes

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<v Speaker 1>of visitors wander their way into White County, Georgia for

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<v Speaker 1>a little slice of Bavaria. And weirdly, Helen is not

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<v Speaker 1>the only town in the United States that aims to

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<v Speaker 1>recreate the Old Country. There are at least a handful

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<v Speaker 1>of European replica towns spanning the US, from Leavenworth, Washington's

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<v Speaker 1>Bavarian vibe to Little Switzerland, North Carolina's Swiss Alpine esthetic.

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<v Speaker 1>Each has its own unique story, but all of them

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<v Speaker 1>have been attracting tourists for decades. They all go for

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<v Speaker 1>a nostalgic take on Northern European nations, perhaps because they

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<v Speaker 1>are also located in mountainous areas, and also because of

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<v Speaker 1>the timing of immigrant waves intersecting with the new found

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<v Speaker 1>love of travel in the nineteen fifties, thanks to America's

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<v Speaker 1>burgeoning car culture. Take Solvang, California, which draws inspiration from

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<v Speaker 1>the North Sea nations. The Danish inspired village and its

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<v Speaker 1>assortment of windmills popped up near the southern California coast

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<v Speaker 1>after three Danish teachers struck out to establish a community

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<v Speaker 1>for their compatriots in nineteen eleven. They also created a

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<v Speaker 1>folk school to teach area kids about reading, writing, and arithmetic,

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<v Speaker 1>as well as the basics of Danish culture. Solvang remained

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<v Speaker 1>fairly insulated until the nineteen forties, when the media began

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<v Speaker 1>to take notice. In the Saturday Evening Post ran a

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<v Speaker 1>feature boasting about the town's annual Danish Days celebration. We

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<v Speaker 1>also spoke with Ester Jacobson Bates, the executive director of

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<v Speaker 1>Solvang's Elvar Joy Museum. She said people started coming looking

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<v Speaker 1>for that Danish culture, so the local businessmen decided to

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<v Speaker 1>come together collectively and create this plan that the downtown

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<v Speaker 1>area would have new buildings built in a Danish style

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<v Speaker 1>and existing buildings would transition from Western to Danish fronts.

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<v Speaker 1>Like Helen. Solvang's provincial look may have been developed in

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<v Speaker 1>response to business interests, but Bates says the town is

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<v Speaker 1>still rooted in Danish culture and that the cultural links

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<v Speaker 1>to Denmark remain strong. That includes regular visits from Danish

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<v Speaker 1>royalty and ambassadors, as well as a student exchange program.

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<v Speaker 1>Wine lovers and sinophiles alike may recognize Solvang and the

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<v Speaker 1>surrounding area as the set for the two thousand four

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<v Speaker 1>Academy Award winning film Sideways. Solvings is a similar story

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<v Speaker 1>to the one behind Franken Muth Michigan, also known by

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<v Speaker 1>locals as Little Bavaria, a small batch of Lutheran missionaries

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<v Speaker 1>from Germany established the town in eighteen forty four. The

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<v Speaker 1>settlement served as a fairly insular community for German immigrants

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<v Speaker 1>until after World War Two, when interstate highways in the

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<v Speaker 1>infrastructure boom made it easier to reach the mouth from

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<v Speaker 1>nearby cities like Detroit. Today, the town welcomes about three

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<v Speaker 1>million tourists per year to its German style village. Franken

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<v Speaker 1>Muth's annual bavarian Fest may be the biggest event on

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<v Speaker 1>the local calendar, but like any self respecting Alpine town,

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<v Speaker 1>it also celebrates october Fest each year. Visitors can expect

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<v Speaker 1>lots and lots of pretzels, if not that many German accents.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was written by Chris Opfer and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Clang. For more in this lots of other curious

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<v Speaker 1>top X, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff

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