The lasting legacy of a grandfather’s labor of love
By Arietta Hallock
Mini Route 66, a small-scale replica in an unassuming park corner, has brought a touch of roadside attraction and Americana charm to the town of Lake Pleasant since 2016. Yet there is one thing more charming than its painted window shades, vintage furnishings and hand-carved Adirondack signage– the history of how it got there.
The story begins in the 1920s with a young John Van Buiten. It was during that decade that the New Jersey native started attending Camp of the Woods, a local Christian family camp, and fell in love with Lake Pleasant. After many years of annual visits, he bought a summer home there. It later became the backdrop of his retirement from a long career in carpentry. Yet even in his 80s, Van Buiten’s granddaughter Jamie said he wasn’t ready to set down his tools.
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“I felt like my grandfather always had something new he was working on,” Jamie Van Buiten said.
Watch a short clip of the Miniature Route 66 in Speculator, taken by Arietta Hallock
Rebuilding an iconic road
His long hilly driveway was the blank canvas with which he began his final masterpiece- a miniature Route 66 village. It was a passion project, a play place for visiting grandchildren and a tribute to his wife, Hester.
At first, he built a gas station. Then came the church, modeled after the one he attended as a child. An avid antiques collector, he even sourced its original sign. It was there that he and Hester renewed their vows on their 60th wedding anniversary.
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“It seems like every year or two we’d have a new one,” Jamie Van Buiten said, “But the Route 66 comes from his honeymoon.”
John and Hester had taken a six week road trip on Route 66 after getting married, a voyage that inspired the name of his tiny township and a lifetime love for old cars and road signs.
It took 14 years, beginning in 2000, to build the complete village with the help of his friend Richard Koert. His driveway became a bustling town including an ice cream parlor, barbershop, schoolhouse, and post office.
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For one summer, he asked his grandchildren to open cans of food from the bottom to help stock the shelves of his general store. He sourced barber shop mannequins from states away. Moved to downtown Speculator in 2016, visitors can now peer through windows at all of his original and eclectic interior design.
“We would get the set of keys, run up, go inside and play and see what was new. I still think the general store is my favorite,” Jamie Van Buiten said.
John Van Buiten avoided the need for building permits by designing his storefronts just shy of a hundred square feet. He scrounged scrap yards, wood piles, garage sales, and the internet for supplies.
A lasting family tradition
In 2016, after Van Buiten’s wife passed, he began to consider selling his Lake Pleasant home. Yet his years of collections needed to find a new home. The Speculator Lake Pleasant Historical Society offered to give the buildings a second life near a playground and pavilion frequented by the community.
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John Van Buiten passed away at 98 in 2019, but his legacy now lives on with every stroll down his classic American highway. While the days of running up her grandfather’s driveway are now distant memories for his granddaughter, she gets to watch the next generation enjoy his miniature world and the wonder that it brings.
“We were there on Monday, and there was a little boy and his grandparents running around looking inside everything.” Jamie Van Buiten said. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, that was what we did.’”
Never knew this. Where exactly is that place? And the days, times, and admissions, please. We would love to go there.
Where is this place?
Speculator